Shattered Walls
by Arayelle Lynn
Summary: 1xR 4xDxOC 3xD? The battle is lost and peace shattered like glass. Now, the Gundam pilots HAVE to learn that being together again is not enough. Or they would perish together. When all seems lost, it's time to break the walls. Sequel to Shattered Mirrors.
1. Chap 1: Decisions

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! â˜º

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**NOTE:** To avoid confusion, I have **_italic-and-bold_** the clones' name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who's who.

**SHATTERED WALLS I : DECISIONS**.

By Arayelle Lynn.

'The base is totaled!' Quatre realized with a shock as the truth sank in. They had arrived just as the fight was over. Winteridge had captured MO V and with it, the space colonies fell into his hands. And the Earth Sphere Unified Nation will plunge into chaos without the support from the colonies.

This time, the Gundams had failed the very thing that they were protecting.

Suddenly Quatre's controls beeped. He recovered just in time to see Wing Zero flew past him, full speed. "Heero! What are you doing?" he cried, opening the channel.

"I will not allow this to happen," was Heero's answer.

"But you'd be killed," Quatre protested, seeing that, already, a dozen or more enemy troops were converging on Wing Zero. "Break off, Heero. It's useless to die now."

"I rather die now than let them have their way," his friend shot back as the line went dead.

Quatre gasped. There was something different about Heero's voice. It sounded so eerily familiar...

"The Zero System!" he realized with a start. "It has taken over Heero's mind."

He moved to join the fray but something stopped him.

"What are you doing?" asked Trowa's quiet voice.

"We have to help Heero. The Zero system is controlling him."

"How do you suppose we could help him?"

Quatre felt his desperation grew. "I don't know! But we can't let him die now. It's too early."

"So, you suppose that we go in and risk ourselves getting blown into bits so that he would not die today but later, huh?" Mylin's voice said, sarcastically from Altron. Quatre had to remind himself again that Wu Fei won't be with them anymore.

"Y... yes," he stammered, uncertainly.

"Good plan," said the alien then Altron launched, leaving the Gundam pilots staring after her, open-mouthed.

"Don't die," said Trowa to his surrogate brother.

"You too."

"""""

He smiled to himself for the battle was won. It had been relatively easy for him and his friends to defeat the Preventers and capture MO V. It had been even easier for them to destroy the Preventers' white Tauruses and their poor excuse of a defense system with the clones' _'new toys'_.

"Man, this is how we should've made our first appearance to the Gundam pilots," he said to himself, trailing his hand on the blinking controls. He couldn't describe how he felt, being in the cockpit, piloting one of the best mobile suits that was ever built. He felt content. He felt as if they belonged to each other.

'It feels just right.'

It's not that Winteridge's gundanium-alloy mobile suits weren't strong. In fact, the _Furies_ were far more superior than the customary Taurus, Leo and Virgo. It's just that they were made only for lesser pilots. Call it an advance form of the old customary mobile suits. But the new mobile suit that he's flying now was made for superior pilots, like him.

He couldn't wait to utilize his new MS to its full potential. Battling the Preventers was just warming up the engine. What he couldn't wait was to pit his suit against what the enemy claimed to be the superior mobile suits called Gundams. And he's determined to give them a shock of their lives.

Suddenly the comm. crackled. The image of Duo****Maxwell's clone appeared on the screen. "We have an incoming." His smiled widened. "It's our old acquaintances."

**_Heero-clone_** smiled. He had his wish at last. Opening the channel, he began to issue his orders. "**_Kylie_**, stay and supervise the operations here. The rest of us will meet them out. We'll show them what our new toys can do."

"""""

"Gundam Wing Zero has engaged the enemy fighters," an agent reported. Lady Une turned her attention to her. "Gundam 03, 04, 05 and Epyon are closing in. ETA twenty seconds."

"What about the unidentified mobile suits? Have you determined its models?" she enquired. It had come as a great surprise when they found out that there were another set of new mobile suits flying within the enemy's rank. Truthfully, the Preventers had not expected that the enemy would possess new mobile suits after they had just utilized the still unknown mobile suits in the recent battles.

And where the recent new suits were superior than that of Preventer's White Tauruses, these particular newer suits proved to be far more _superior_ than both earlier models. Since the only MS that are superior than Tauruses are the Gundams, Lady Une found herself hoping that her guess is wrong.

"I'm receiving the information right now," said the agent, her hands danced expertly on the keyboard. Then, she stiffened as some images appeared on the screen. "It... it can't be," she gasped, but from the lack of surprise in her voice, Lady Une could tell that she had thought about the same thing too. "The specifications of the new models resemble..."

"The Gundams," Lady Une finished for her. Her face was grim. She looked at the display, comparing the specification of Wing Zero and the new MS. They were identical! "Duke Winteridge now has his own Gundams working for him."

Sally stared at her. "But that's not the only thing we should be worrying about," she said, gravely.

The head Preventers frowned. "What is?"

"It's only natural to assume that the clones would be piloting the four new models. However," she paused, thinking hard. "If the clones managed to defeat our Gundam pilots with inferior mobile suits, think what they can do with a mobile suit such as the Gundams."

Realization hit her like a brick wall. Quickly, Lady Une turned to the comm. officer. "Tell the Gundams to retreat, now!" The comm. officer looked at her, baffled. Recovering, she turned on the channel, trying to patch through the Gundams.

"""""

"They're Gundams!"

"What!" Quatre yanked his throttle to the right, narrowly missing a missile.

"Check your display," said the image of Duo, calling from the Preventer's base on Earth. At the same time, another call came in.

"Gundams retreat!"

Quatre looked at Duo. "What's going on?"

"I guess the Preventers just found out," said Duo, hearing the call to retreat.

"We don't have much time," said Wu Fei, appearing next to Duo. "If you check your screen, you'd notice five unidentified mobile suits coming at you. The clones are in them."

"Great! Then, we'll just have a second round," said Mylin, flying closer to meet the new models.

"No, you fool," said the Chinese pilot. He knew that the alien did remarkably good with the Zero System but also knew that no one could fight for long without back up. Especially if surrounded by enemies. "The new models are..."

"They're Gundams!" Quatre gasped, as he read the specifications on the screen. He then looked at another screen, to see how far the new models were. Fear gripped at him. "Heero. We must warn Heero. The four of us won't be able to handle the clones by ourselves. Especially when they have their own Gundams."

"Can't get through to him," Zechs interjected, hovering just nearby. "He's switched off his radio."

Trowa looked at his own screen, seeing the familiar dot racing towards the heart of battle. It was then he realized something. "I think Heero already knows about them. He's making his way towards the new Gundams as we speak."

The others looked and indeed saw Wing Zero approaching the five new Gundams.

"He'll be crushed!" Duo exclaimed. "What could he be thinking?"

"We must get through him before he engaged the clones. MO V is as good as gone. But we can ill afford to lose a superior pilot like him," said Lady Une, after listening to the whole exchange.

"Question is, how?"

"""""

Heero fought like there's no tomorrow. The MS that came after him were crushed like annoying bugs. Although he knew that they were made by gundanium alloy, he scarcely believed that they were his equal. No, not when they were easily crushed by his buster rifle.

His equal was out there somewhere......

And then he saw them. Five new models coming at him at lightning speed. Five that he could easily identify based on the skills of their pilots. Five in which he had to defeat in order to end this useless war. Five new Gundams against his Wing Zero, the Gundam which was made by the combination of all other five earlier models.

Ignoring his other opponents, Heero pressed on the accelerator to meet the new Gundams. His mission was set as well as his mind. Destroy the enemy or be destroyed. One way or the other, one of the feats will be achieved that day. And he wasn't worried. He's prepared to die a long time ago.

"Heero!"

A cry broke through his thoughts, like a knife that pierced through flesh. He blinked, trying to match the voice with a face.

"Heero!"

"Relena?"

Only _she_ could wake him like that.

"Heero!"

No, that wasn't her.

"Heero!"

Finally, a face matched with the voice. "What, Sara?"

"Get out of there. It's over," she said, ignoring the fact that he had just acknowledged her by her false name.

He kept his Gundam forward. He wasn't surprised that she could somehow patch through even though he had shut down all communication channels. Her hacking skill was as good as his. But then again, that should be right for two people who had shared the same womb for nine months.

"It's useless to fight now. The others have all retreated."

Silence.

"Heero, you can't do this. They'll crush you," she said, reading his mind. "You can't die now," her tone was suddenly soft and low. "Not when you've led me this far."

That brought his attention. He started to listen.

"Please," she said, the words sounded awkward on her lips. She seemed to be uncertain about something, as if debating against something in her mind. "Trust me. Live and fight another day. For her," she said the last word so softly that he had to let the word sank in for a few seconds.

"Give me a chance."

Something stirred inside Heero then. He could now feel the pain that she was feeling and he knew that she could feel his pain as well. _This_ was the bond that they were born with. A bond that they could never get rid off with time or distant.

"Roger."

He could almost sense her relief.

"""""

"Wing Zero's retreating!"

"What!"

"My dear clones, that's enough for now," said Winteridge, appearing on the screen. "We have won. Outer space is now ours. We'll deal with them later."

Grudgingly, the clones obeyed and returned to their new prize, MO V.

"""""

The day following the fall of MO V was solemn and grim. Lady Une found herself walking along the corridors, recalling the incidents that took place since Winteridge declared war on the Earth Sphere Nation. She recalled the look on the pilots' faces when they finally landed on Earth. All of them seemed weary and in verge of giving up. Quatre, of course, blamed himself although he didn't voice the thought aloud. And what made his state even sadder was seeing Kylie waiting for Heero. The Wing Zero pilot had collapsed as soon as his feet touched the ground. It took Duo and Wu Fei to help him back to his quarters.

As usual, Trowa made his disappearing act right after reaching the base. And Mylin was looking calm but there was a cold determination in her eyes that they had never seen before. She too disappeared right after landing. Only Wu Fei knew her exact location.

Now the Preventers had to set new priorities. As she walked, she thought about plans to be made to prepare for Winteridge's attack on Earth. Now that he had the colonies' resources, he would be able to bring the fight onto the Earth whenever he wished. So the Preventers were forced to work with the ESUN defense force and kept watch on all space activities. It was a hard wait, not knowing when the enemy would be attacking Earth, but they couldn't make the first move, seeing the might of Winteridge's forces.

Their only hope lies with Quatre Winner, who was planning to return to L4. Even that, many feared for him. Many feared that Winner would suffer the same fate as he did when he was in Winteridge's captivity. None of them knew how much L4 was affected by the fall of MO V, when all of its neighboring colonies had allied with Winteridge's forces.

But the young man had been pretty insistent. He believed that he could set up a secret network in the colonies to monitor Winteridge's movements. He strongly believed that the representatives of the colonies were still willing to work with the ESUN. And with that belief alone, he was willing to return to a home where his enemy was everywhere.

"""""

"You're alright," said Tricia, relief washed over her. "All of you."

The image on the screen smiled. "Yes. We got everyone out just in time. The Preventer agents were kind enough to hold the fort until we have the civilians off MO V." He winked at her. "Don't worry."

"You're tired," she suddenly said, taking in his weary features. There were signs of growing stubble on his handsome face.

He wiped the sweat on his forehead. "You know how busy we could get. Though, my little brother did not appreciate another parting from his fiancée. He had been complaining about how little time he had with her, though most of the time when they're together, they fight."

Tricia smiled at the memory. Then, she reached out and touched the screen. He touched the screen as well, where her hand was. "I wish I am there with you," she said, softly.

"You're needed more where you are, my love," he said. "And we've just received a new mission." He sighed. "Maybe once this is all over, we both can sit down and think about settling on a permanent home."

"I like that," she said. "Take care."

"You too."

"""""

After spending a hard time arranging a shuttle to take him secretly back to his home colony, Quatre found himself staring back at the blue-white ball thinking of the things that he had left behind and thinking of the things that would be greeting him once he reached his father's resource satellite. He constantly had to remind himself that he was not going back home. He had to remind himself that his enemies were every where and would cause bad things if they detected him.

But then, his mission was necessary as well as dire. He had successfully contacted all representatives from the colonies to meet him on L4 in a secret meeting. He knew that he had to have them to agree on the network that he's setting up. The fate of the entire colony and Earth rested on this.

With him, was Dorothy. She had immediately insisted on coming with him, knowing the danger and all. Although he had argued hard to persuade her otherwise, Dorothy ended up winning the argument when he found the others supporting her. But having her with him reminded him of the things that he had left on Earth. Seeing her made him feel the slight pang of things that was left undone. Although she meant well, her presence actually distracted him more than not.

A hand landed on his shoulder, breaking his trail of thoughts. Quatre was instantly reminded of the last person that joined him. Trowa was also there, acting as his bodyguard. He was the reason why Lady Une permitted Quatre's return to outer space. She knew that having the Heavyarms pilot could ensure the safety of Quatre and Dorothy.

So, there they were. Three of them, venturing into the enemy's territory, hoping to change the tide of the conflict. And each of them was now staring at the colony as they were approaching it, determined not to fail.

Their only chance was that the colonists are still interested in a united nation.

"""""

"You've woken up," said Kylie, switching off the database that she was working on.

Heero looked at her, for the first time noticing that she seemed to be hiding something. "What happened?"

Knowing that his question wasn't about the battle, she swiveled around to face him. "The Preventers are concentrating on protecting Earth now and Winner's gone with Barton and Catalonia to L4," she filled him in. "And Relena Darlian is on a meeting with the other representatives," she continued, hesitantly. Then her face grew grim. "It doesn't look very good."

Heero was silent for a while. Then he nodded to himself and made his way towards the door, wordlessly.

"Heero, tell me," said Kylie, stopping him at the threshold. He looked at her. "You're controlling the Zero system fine, right?" she asked.

Again, Heero detected something that made him think that she _was_ hiding something. "Fine," he answered then waited for her to reveal the secret. But she didn't. Instead, she shrugged and went back to work.

He left, with more questions in his mind.

"""""

The meeting wasn't going as good as he expected. In fact, it got even worse. The minute they gathered in the room, Quatre found himself bombarded with questions and accusations, which he could hardly answer at the speed they were thrown at him. All of the representatives wanted answers. All of them wanted reasons as to how and why the Gundams lost and the colonies fell under Winteridge's control. All of them wanted explanations, which he himself hardly knew.

"Why didn't the Gundams come to our aid?"

"Why was the Preventer slow in sending reinforcements?"

"What should we do now?"

"Can we still stop the enemy?"

"What are the Earth representatives doing at a time like this?"

All of these and more, Quatre answered as best as he could. He knew that although he was hardly twenty years old, these people regarded him as someone equal to their age. And he also knew that these people feared for their fate and they needed to lash at someone. And that someone was him. So, he mustered all the courage inside him to answer them as calmly as he could. He had learned a lot about being a politician over the years and he used what he had learned to convince these people that there was still hope.

His only consolation was that Trowa and Dorothy weren't in the room with him. Or else, things would go out of hand if the two heard such questions.

"Can you convince us why we should ally ourselves with the Earth Sphere Unified Nation when it is clearly that Duke Winteridge will win the war?"

That question brought silence to the chaotic meeting room. All eyes turned to Quatre, who looked at the questioner intently. He was from L2, the colony that had allied with Winteridge nearly at the beginning of the conflict. Truthfully, Quatre hadn't wanted to call in the representative but he didn't want to be accused of negligence. And so, he forced himself to invite the representative, hoping to convince him not to join the enemy.

Calmly, Quatre regarded the representative. He spoke. "Because Duke Winteridge's only goal is to govern the whole Earth Sphere by himself. That's dictatorship. Once he have complete control over Earth Sphere, there would be no democracy in the ruling system. The Earth Sphere Unified Nation allows us to sit down and make decisions together. We would all have rights to voice our opinions."

"But we've tried sitting down and talk but that usually made the final decisions even harder to reach. And we all know that that is mainly because we have too many voices speaking of different things. Why not have someone who has the final say to all decisions so that we could all reach our goal quickly?"

"Then we might as well reform the Alliance and returned to where we were five years ago," said a representative.

Another representative looked at Quatre. "Is that why the Earth representatives are slow in making a decision? Because we are colonists?"

He shook his head. "No. They're as shocked as you all are. They hardly believe that we lost outer space with the fall of MO V."

"Then the Preventers are to be blamed then? And the Gundams?" said another representative.

Quatre kept his silent at that, knowing that none of them knew that he was a Gundam pilot and that he secretly blamed himself too. And the last statement further embedded the blame into him.

"This is _not_ the time blame anyone," said a representative, drawing their whole attention. He looked at Quatre. "I know that the Preventers and the Gundams have done their best to protect outer space," he said. Quatre was surprised to learn that it was the representative from L2. "The only people we should lay our blame on is none other than ourselves."

There was a collective gasps in the room, followed by a buzz of undertone conversations.

"Yes, we should share the blame too. We've done _nothing_ to ensure the safety of our colonies. We made ourselves easy targets for Winteridge." He nodded. "I myself appreciated the courage shown by Ambassador Winner's colony by denying alliance with the enemy."

Then he turned to the rest. "And here, I would like to state that the reason my colony allied with Winteridge was so that we could gather enough information to stop him." He paused. "We knew all about the clones that Winteridge made in order to counter the Gundam pilots. We also knew that they were genetically engineered so that they would not have any flaws that the Gundam pilots have."

"My people and I have set up a secret network throughout our colonies so that we could provide the Preventers with the information that they need to defeat him in the final conflict. I wish that your colonies would have thought about that but..." he looked at Quatre. "I guess, that's why Ambassador Winner has gathered all of us here."

Surprised by his words, Quatre didn't realize that he was given a chance to lay out his plan. Then, he nudged himself aware and stood. "Gentlemen, this is what we're going to do..."

"""""

"Everything is set?"

"Yes. Your informant was right. There was a secret meeting on L4. Two of the Gundam pilots are there as well."

"And that ought to be my old acquaintance, Mr. Winner and I suppose his ever-concern surrogate brother, Trowa Barton?"

"Yes. That would make them easy targets."

"Easy indeed." He then shifted to regard the people before him. "Destroy them, my children."

The clones saluted him and ran out of the room. Winteridge leaned back in his seat, savoring his coming victory.

'Two down. Three to go.'

"""""

The base blared by the sirens. Preventer agents rushed to their posts as the remaining Gundam pilots burst into the control room. Lady Une was already there, issuing orders. She turned when she heard them coming in.

"Colony cluster L4 is under attack," she said. Heero, Mylin and Zechs didn't waste any time and went to the hangar. Each of them thought of the same thing.

'They're after Quatre.'

"You're sending the Gundam pilots? Why?" asked the president over the comm. "They'd lose! We can't lose them now."

Lady Une looked at him. "Two of the Gundam pilots are on that colony. If I don't send them, we'll lose them." She sighed. "Either way, we'll lose them all."

Kylie switched off the comm. after eavesdropping on the exchange between Lady Une and the President. She could hear the fear and urgency in the older woman's voice. She could almost hear her guilt at having to send the Gundam pilots to their deaths. Kylie knew that there was nothing else the older woman could've done. Winteridge had cleverly outsmarted all of them.

But there was something Kylie Rayden could do. So she turned back to the database and continued her work. Her mind was made up.

It was time.

TO BE CONTINUED...

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **I'm really, really sorry for the delay. This year had been hazardous to my health. After repeatedly been ill early this year, I recently and 'successfully' managed to tumble down the stairs!!! Nothing's broken, I assure you (well, just my pride) and I think I spooked my colleagues with that stunt. If it had been worse and if I had broken something, I might have to copy Heero and mend it myself (ugh!). Anyway, here's the replies to the 'Shattered Mirrors' reviews.

**Ookami Kage: **Wu Fei and Kylie? Maybe. Wu Fei, Kylie and Mylin? Probably too. We'll see how everything goes. Besides, I love to play around with my characters' feelings. I'm a very bad person when it comes to love... he... he... yes, even in real life.

Actually, I heard that the new Gundam series would be made by CGIs. That's what I heard. Nothing's confirmed yet. Gundam Seed will not be having a new season. Instead, it follows Gundam Wing's footsteps and has a movie done. Don't know when it'll reach the US shores. How do you find the current Gundam Seed?

**Elizabeth: **Didn't know that you feel this way about Kylie. Maybe she has yet to win over your heart, eh? Doubt it though, at the way she seemed to be rubbing on people. I am trying to write about all couples in the GW universe (Relena-Heero, included). Kind of hard to do when you have what, six couples? But I will try to centralize the couples by writing a fic for each of them.

Yeah, there are quite a number of people that think Dorothy is better for Quatre and there are also some who promote Trowa-Quatre romance. I guess, I want to try someone new but hey, we'll see how that works, okay?

**Justin: **Thanks for the very enthusiastic review! It felt as if you were here saying it. Yeah, there will be a development between Wu Fei and Mylin thing, though I don't know when and where it goes. And am proud that you see it coming. And thank you for the compliment. I tried very hard to keep the interaction run smoothly because it's very important in writing. And I'm sooo happy you're still reading my work (grinning like an idiot)

I'm so happy for you. Having people who appreciate your original writing is so exciting. Never mind the BTNSS. She's only jealous that yours are more popular and better than hers. Maybe she doesn't know that taking a creative writing major doesn't make her a good writer. I remember reading a book on writing (I forgot by who. It was a while back) He said something like this 'In each person there is a bestseller' or something like that. So, she shouldn't have said that. Who knows, **this** could be your bestseller!

So keep writing. Don't listen to people like her. They're the ones who give writers a bad name.

**SilverRocks: **There is a reason for Kylie's behavior. Read 'Circle of Wishes' in Zero Tolerance. It'll give you a clue. I don't know if there's going to be a cat fight between Dorothy, Kylie and Relena. For once, Relena's too compose and refine and Dorothy, although she had once love wars, seemed to have lost that edge when she fell for Quatre. Besides, it was Kylie who left Quatre, remember? And she'll make sure Duo keeps his silence.

That's all folks. Till next time.


	2. Chap 2: The Immortals

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people!☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**NOTE:** To avoid confusion, I have **_italic-and-bold_** the clones' name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who's who.

**SHATTERED WALLS II: THE IMMORTALS.**

By Arayelle Lynn.

The meeting was thrown into chaos the second they heard the explosion. Trowa and Dorothy burst into the room at about the same time Quatre reached for the comm. "What happened?" he asked as soon as Auda appeared on the screen.

The Arabian's face was grim. "We're under attack."

Three pairs of eyes met. Then two pairs broke away, running towards the exit. Dorothy faced the representatives. "Everyone, please remain calm. Mr. Winner is going to contact the Preventers and supervise the defense." She paused, sensing their distress as the earth shook again. "This colony isn't without its own defense troop. We still have the Maganac Corp."

'And two Gundam pilots to back them up,' she added to herself.

**xxxx**

Mylin was just reaching Gundam Altron when she discovered that someone else had already beaten her to it. "Wu Fei?" she said, questioningly. The Chinese pilot spared a glance at her before zipping up his flight suit.

"Thanks for taking care of Nataku for me," he said, after a few seconds. "But it's time both of us soar in space together."

At first, she didn't know how to react to his words. She had expected him to fly again but never this soon. Something had changed Wu Fei in the past few days and she was surprised that she hadn't notice it before. And so, she nodded. "Good. No one could ever pilot Nataku better than you."

Wu Fei nodded his thanks. He then slipped on his helmet. Mylin jumped from the Gundam, guiding herself towards a Preventer White Taurus. Even without a Gundam, she wasn't going to miss the fight.

"Don't get killed, Wu Fei Chang," she muttered to herself as she prepped the Taurus.

**xxxx**

"Oh! Hey, look," **_Duo-clone _**snickered, staring mockingly at the screen. "It a couple of Gundams and their little Arabian brigade."

The others looked at their screens and saw forty mobile suits and two Gundams hovering between them and the colony. They each recognized the identical mobile suits even far away. **_Wu Fei_** snorted. "Can't believe that those old thing are still flying."

"Don't worry, _our_ Gundams will make a scrap metal out of those suits," said **_Quatre_**.

"Orders, **_Heero_**?" asked **_Kylie_**.

"You heard what the duke ordered. Attack and destroy." **_Heero_** smiled, crookedly. "Leave none alive."

**_Kylie_** crooned, making a beeline towards Sandrock. "This should be fun."

**xxxx**

"They've reached the colony," Agent June Willis reported. She had been one of those who survived the MO V attack. "They'll engage Gundam 03 and 04 in thirty seconds."

Lady Une bit her lips, watching the screen. Heero and the others were still far away from the colony. Ascending from Earth with all the gravitational pull certainly took a long time. Their only hope was that Trowa, Quatre and the Maganacs are able to handle themselves long enough for help to arrive.

**xxxx**

"Here they come," Quatre heard Auda said. He tensed.

"Remember. Whatever we do, we can't let the colony fall into Winteridge's hands," he said, reminding them of the importance of a pacifist colony. "Rashid's team will remain where they are to ensure safe passage for the representatives' retreat." He began issuing orders. "The rest of you will be joining me and Trowa. We'll hold off the new Gundams and the mobile suits until help is here."

"Roger that," came a chorused reply.

"Good luck, Master Quatre," said Rashid.

Quatre led the others out. "Thanks. We need all the luck we could get."

**xxxx**

"Prepare to die!" Trowa spun out of the way, just as one of the clones flew passed him. He turned his Gundam around to face the attack.

"Look out, Trowa!" Quatre warned, as another clone smacked into Heavyarms.

"Master Quatre!" he heard Ahmed cried, as he was knocked down. He bit his lips as he struggled to gain control of his Gundams. He was just in time to avoid another attack.

"Better worry about yourself first, Winner," said a familiar voice. "Because we're here to destroy you for good." Quatre turned to see two Gundams, red and black, towering over him. The red one held a red beam saber in its hand and the other, a heat whip.

"Thought I stop by and say hello to you," said a second voice. His own!

"You're not me," said Quatre, taking out his heat shotels. He turned to the other Gundam. "And you're not **_Kylie_** either."

"Yeah, we've covered that area already," said **_Kylie_**, coming from the black Gundam. "Can we fight now?" With that, she began her attack. Quatre knocked aside her whip with his shotels, only to receive a blow from his double.

Quatre grunted from the impact, his seat belt bit into his flesh. But he was determined to fight on. Fingers dancing along the keyboard, he allowed his Gundam some time to scan the new Gundams to gain the upper hand.

As if sensing his efforts, the red Gundam took another swing at him. "In case you're wondering, yes, our Gundams do have the same schematics as your Gundams. In fact, they are built based on your Gundams; particularly the one you called Wing Zero."

Startled by the voluntary admission, Quatre blocked another blow from **_Kylie_**. "And they have names too, such as yours," his clone continued his narration. "Mine's Gundam Ares, **_Kylie's_** Gundam Nemesis." He paused to take another swipe at his original. "The ones fighting your friend Trowa are Gundam Hades and Gundam Poseidon, piloted by **_Duo_** and **_Wu_** **_Fei_** respectively."

"And the one that is pulverizing your Maganac friends is called Zeus, piloted by the copy of your perfect soldier friend."

Quatre gritted his teeth as he was locked in a close combat with his clone. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Simple," **_Kylie_** answered, hitting him from behind. "A dead man can't talk."

**xxxx**

'Quatre!' Trowa's mind screamed as he saw Sandrock being thrown back by the red and black Gundams. Momentarily distracted, he barely missed the tip of Gundam Poseidon's beam trident.

"Don't worry about your friend. He'll be space dust before this is over," said **_Wu Fei_**, swinging his trident again. Trowa blocked that one, only to be hit by Gundam Hades' missiles. Heavyarms spun for a moment before he finally regained control.

"Wish I could say differently about you," said Duo's clone. "Or your Maganac friends."

Remembering Quatre's faithful guardians, Trowa spared a glance at them. He saw them engaged in a ferocious battle with Heero's double. Though there were ten of them there, their number was swiftly reduced. Most of them were disabled by Gundam Zeus' beam spear.

A few light years away, dangerously near to the L4 colony cluster, the other members of the Maganac fought Winteridge's gundanium alloy-made mobile suits.

'If things continue at it is, the Maganac will be wiped out before help gets here,' he thought, narrowly missing Gundam Hades' beam scythe. It reminded him so much of Duo's scythe except the beam radiated a red light, like the other beam weapons of the clones.

"Look out, Auda!" he heard someone yelled over the comm. He turned just in time to see the golden Gundam Zeus, sank its spear into a Maganac mobile suit. Then there was an explosion. Only it did not come from the brown suit.

Instead, it came from Gundam Zeus.

"Help is here!" said one of the Maganac, Abdul. All of them turned to see Wing Zero making a beeline towards Gundam Zeus. Behind him, Gundam Altron and the Preventers' Tauruses followed.

"Ohh… goody," said a voice, coming from Gundam Nemesis. "More people to kill." She turned to the two boys. "I leave you two to get reacquainted." With that, she made her way straight to the newly-arrived.

"And you're fighting me," said a familiar voice, coming from Altron.

"Wu Fei?" Trowa gasped, seeing Altron coming at his way.

Gundam Poseidon turned to greet the blue-green Gundam. "So, you're back, huh? Never mind. Fighting the alien girl was never satisfying enough." Then, the green Gundam rose to meet Altron.

"Since my original has obviously chickened out, I guess that leaves you," said **Duo-clone**. He swung his scythe again. "Too bad. I was looking forward to wipe that silly smile of his."

**xxxx**

Mylin saw the black suit coming at them. "Where is she? Where's my worthy opponent?" a transmission came from the new Gundam. Mylin identified the voice even before the face appeared on the screen.

She tensed, navigating the Taurus to meet the Gundam. "She's not here. She won't be fighting anyone anymore."

"Really?" came a smirk from the face which Mylin once considered as her honored enemy.

She smiled, snidely. "On the other hand, I _am_ available."

"So, be it," said **_Kylie-clone_**, nodding. "However, don't expect me to play nice with you."

"Don't worry. I never played nice with your original anyway."

**xxxx**

"They're engaged!" Agent June reported.

"Status," Lady Une barked, feeling the tension thickened.

"The odds are still against us," the young agent answered. "The clones are obviously stronger than the Gundam pilots."

Lady Une bit her lips. "They have two advantages over our boys," she mused. "They're all totally removed of the boy's natural weaknesses. And they're more attuned to the Zero System than all of the Gundam pilots combined. Plus, now they're fighting in their secret weapon. Their own Gundams."

"They're out to destroy our Gundam pilots this time," she said, glancing at Duo Maxwell, who was working on a nearby console. Again, Lady Une resisted the urge to call off the Gundams, knowing that if L4 fell, nothing could stop Winteridge from descending onto the Earth.

Seeing the tension on her superior and friend's demeanor, Sally turned to Duo. Though he was working hard, scanning the new Gundams for signs of weaknesses, she could see that his face was white and his jaw clenched. Occasionally, he would ball his fists as if trying to stop himself from rising up and leaving the room.

Meanwhile out there in space, his friends were fighting for peace in the universe as well as for their very lives. And here he was, sitting in the comfort of the control room, completely away from any danger. It ate him up but Sally found herself loathingly grateful that at least one Gundam pilot was away from the battle. It made her think that if the others failed, they could rely on the remaining Gundam pilot.

Provided if he hadn't completely lost his will to fight.

Suddenly Duo stood up, knocking the chair over. "I'm going," he announced. Sally closed her eyes, partly rejoicing and partly grieving over his decision. He turned to Lady Une. "May I borrow one of your suits?"

Lady Une nodded. "Hangar two."

Without another word, the former Deathscythe pilot took off. Sally watched him, silently praying. "Don't you die, kiddo."

**xxxx**

Heero panted, taking that short interval between exchanging blows to recover his breath. The battle had taken place for hours and he was getting tired as the time went by. Not to mention, the Zero System were weighing him down. Not far away, his friends were showing signs of fatigue as well. Most of them could barely fend off their enemy's attacks, having not enough strength to come as the offense.

Contradictorily, the clones seemed to be as energetic as before. Only this time, they had ceased playing around with the Gundam pilots and were now going for the kill. It was only a matter of time before one of the Gundam pilots would crumble and impale by their own clones.

"Argghh…" he heard one of his friends cried, just as the battle between him and his clone intensified. Heero took a split second to check the screen and saw a Taurus lost one of its arms. "Duo!" he heard Quatre yelled out. The blond pilot was cut off when he was slammed in by his clone.

Heero swore. He cursed Duo's stupid decision to join the battle. If the laughing fool had thrown aside his shame and pilot Deathscythe, Heero would've welcomed his presence in the battlefield. But now, even piloting a specially modified Taurus, Duo Maxwell was more a liability than an asset. He was starting to distract all of the Gundam pilots.

"Focus, Quatre!" he said to his friend. He then grunted as a missile hit his Gundam.

"Tell that to yourself, Yuy."

**xxxx**

Mylin put her Taurus between Duo's and the incoming gundanium-made mobile suits she previously found out called as **_the_** **_Furies_**. She slashed at the enemy, hoping to buy enough time for Duo to recover from his clone's sneak attacks. A few meters away, Trowa gained back the attention of Duo's clone, drawing him further from Duo and herself.

She spared another glance at the others. She saw Gundam Altron locked in an intense combat with the green Gundam called Poseidon. None of them were showing signs that they actually aware of the other world but their own.

Heero was also in a similar situation. The gold Gundam called Zeus had Wing Zero locked in a tight battle. She saw Heero aimed the buster rifle but a second later discarded it, having run out of power. Now, he only had his beam sabers to rely on since he had run out of missiles earlier in the battle.

Far away, another fierce battle took place. This time between Gundam Sandrock and Gundam Ares. Sandrock was finally showing signs of trouble, since its pilot had to lead and strategize the whole battle at the same time battling an impossible foe.

Watching all these, Mylin couldn't help herself from wondering; Zeus, Hades, Ares, Poseidon, Nemesis, the Furies. They were all the names of the ancient Greek deities. The Gundam pilots were well known to be perfect soldiers. So, since the clones' genes were rid of the Gundam pilots' weaknesses, could that be the reason why they named their Gundams according to the ancient gods? Could it be that they think that they're far more superior to the entire human race?

'After all, the original Gundam pilots are superior humans,' she mused, destroying a **_Furies_** after a hard pummeling. 'Is it safe to say that the clones are like the gods themselves?'

Her musing was interrupted when she caught a slight movement from her left. She spun around, narrowing missing a heat whip. "Nice move," said her opponent. She blocked an attack from behind, threw a kick at Mylin's Taurus before grabbing Duo's other arm and threw him into the alien. "But I'm not easily fooled."

Not far from them, one defending mobile suit exploded.

**xxxx**

"Abu!" Quatre heard Auda cry. Despair tearing at him, Quatre turned to see a Maganac MS exploded. "Noo…!" He screamed, as one of his long-time friend being swallowed by the red inferno. "Noo…!" The Maganac was now reduced one member.

Grief overwhelmed him. Tears filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. In his mind, he recalled the gentle but quiet man, who had been the best cook among all the Maganac Corps. Now, they would never taste his special chili kebab anymore.

"Master Quatre, look out!" A warning tore into his consciousness. Quatre recovered in time to see a red beam fell onto him. But his momentary distractions proved to be fatal as he heard the unmistakable sound of burning metal.

**xxxx**

"Quatre!" Heero saw the red Gundam impaled its beam saber into Sandrock's torso. Through the comm. Heero heard the unmistakable sound of a pained gasp and heard someone yelling his friend's name. Only after a while he realized that it was him.

"Heero!" He recovered quickly, acting more by instinct, jinked his throttle aside. Wing Zero ducked a fatal blow. But the spear managed to take Wing Zero's arm. And with it, Wing Zero's beam saber, Heero's only weapon.

**xxxx**

"No!" she growled, running her fingers tirelessly along the keyboard. She cursed her inability to help, to join the battle. And she cursed herself for succumbing so easily to her emotions. But mostly, she cursed herself for taking too long a time.

"Come on, come on," she slammed the keyboard, glaring at the screen. Her fingers drummed the keyboard impatiently as the incoherent words scrolled up. She had been at it for hours but it seemed like an eternity. She knew that she had to work faster if she was ever going to help Heero and the others.

'Hold on. Please hold on,' somewhere inside her, a tiny voice pleaded.

Suddenly there was a beep and the words 'Configuration completed' appeared on the screen. Without wasting anymore time, Kylie tapped into Heero's channel. "Heero!"

**xxxx**

"Heero, listen to everything I'm telling you and do it," came Kylie's voice. There was a hint of desperation in her voice in which he understood. "No question ask." She added before he could open his mouth.

"Understood."

"Enter the word ZERO now," she instructed. Heero did so and pivoted just in time to fend off his clone's attack. "A symbol will appear on the small screen on your upper left." Heero looked up to see something that looked like a horizontal loop appeared on his screen. "Touch the screen with your left palm to activate it."

"Activate what?" he asked, suddenly feeling very cautious.

"Just do it!"

Suddenly Wing Zero jerked violently. But before Heero could counterattack, he saw a Taurus slammed into his clone's Gundam. Then the Taurus stood poised between him and the gold Gundam. "I'll cover your back, Yuy. That wife of yours may have something that could help us," said Mylin.

"Heero!"

Nodding, he touched the screen. A red light scanned his palm, as the cockpit began to hum. Suddenly, the yellow glow in the cockpit was replaced by a white glow as Heero found himself becoming slightly lighter, as if he was floating in space. When the white glow finally subsided, he was startled to see that he was able to see the stars clearer than before.

Five words danced across his vision, though he couldn't see the screen anymore. The words read 'Now activating Zero-Infinity system'

"What is this?" he asked, in wonder.

"It's the Zero-Infinity system," Kylie told him. "I got no time to explain it but now, you're seeing through your Gundam's eyes. And your Gundam can move as you will it." As if on cue, Heero moved Wing Zero's arms. He was surprised how easily he could do it.

Then Kylie's face became dead serious. "You only have 180 seconds, Heero. Make it count."

"Roger."

**xxxx**

Mylin fought like she had never fought before. When she faced the clones before, she had been piloting Wu Fei's Gundam Altron, the Zero system fully on. She didn't know how but the Zero system seemed to have a different effect on her. It made her powerful and free. Nothing disturbing or out-of-control happened when she was using the Zero system. It had been… perfect for her.

So now that she's in a Taurus, she felt as if something was missing. Her every movement was hindered, every thought felt like a burden. She felt as if she was being pulled down by its weight. It was as if she was learning to fly a suit again.

Not that she had ever been a good pilot. In fact, compared to the Gundam pilots, her piloting skills were minimal. An _Emperor's Eye_ hardly had a need to be in the front line of a battle in a Mican suit. In fact, it was dire that an _Emperor's Eye_ keeps away from the battlefield and work in complete secrecy.

But now she can hardly call herself an _Emperor's Eye_, although what she had been will always remained what she will be in the future. She was not even a Gundam pilot, and definitely not a soldier. "I am someone who is looking for something that I have lost," she said to herself. "Someone who will be destroyed unless she watch herself," she chastised herself, blocking the clone's blow.

Then she was jolted out of her seat when some missiles hit home. She cursed herself for forgetting the other clone. She then pulled the throttle up, only to discover that she was dead in space. 'The blast must've blown my engines!' she concluded, again cursing herself. She waited for the end.

Suddenly like a bolt of lightning, Wing Zero rammed into Zeus. Then, with an agility that is impossible for an MS, Wing Zero twisted around and sank his beam saber into Nemesis, disabling it. Still maintaining its impossible human-like agility, Wing Zero flew over to the dazed Gundam Zeus, its beam saber brandishing menacingly.

**xxxx**

The battle was a blur to him. He hardly noticed what was happening around him. His only focus was on his own battle and the struggle to stay alive. He knew that he was getting tired but still, this was a battle for survival so unless he wants his life to end needlessly, he had to get by.

"What the…" he suddenly heard his opponent gasp, astonished. Now that his opponent was distracted, Trowa poised for another aim when suddenly a lightning fast movement caught his attention as well.

Not far away, he saw Wing Zero taking deadly swings at the enemy's MS and at the same time, fighting Gundam Zeus. And actually _winning_! Trowa didn't know what happened but the way Wing Zero was moving, the way it reacted to its enemy's attacks, he knew that it was an impossible feat. Wing Zero seemed so light and free and its movement mirrored one of a human, or more precisely its pilot.

"What's going on here?"

Before he could find his answer, Winteridge's face appeared on the screen. "Retreat, my children. The battle is over."

"Roger," Trowa heard **_Duo-clone_** said as he turned to him. "I don't know what happen, Trowa Barton but you can be assured that we'll be back. And this time, we'll destroy you for real."

**xxxx**

When Wing Zero powered up to pursue the retreating Gundam, Kylie quickly reached over for the comm. button. "No, Heero, don't! You have no time. Switch off the system now," she instructed. For a moment, nothing happened. The indicator on her screen showed that the system was still on. Fearfully, she bit her lips, wondering if this was the great aftereffect that she had been fearing of. That the pilot would be unwilling to release the sensation that the system had conjured up.

Then the system was shut down. Kylie let out the air that she had been holding. "How are you feeling?" she asked, cautiously.

Heero's voice was strained and tired. "What was that, Kylie?"

"Come back and I'll tell you all about it."

"Roger that."

Kylie sighed, slumping on the wheelchair. Although she hadn't been in the battle, she felt the strain too. As her head swam into unconsciousness, she pulled herself awake. "Dr. Farrell," she said, through the comm. "Your team might be needed in the docking bay."

The fair haired physician nodded, cutting off the line. All deed done, Kylie finally allowed a minute of much needed nap.

**xxxx**

Though their victory had come up as an unbelievable surprise, the Gundams were greeted with cheers. Luckily, Lady Une had limited the number of agent on-duty in the docking bay and doubled the medical team to smooth things up. She had also ordered Noin and her team to remain in L4 to foresee things there. And with her, went Zechs.

So as the heroes of the day landed in the bay one by one, Sally found herself waiting anxiously. Being a former military medic, she knew that her presence would be needed. Next to her, was Tricia Farrell-Burnett. Her face was set and ready.

The minute Heavyarms landed, supporting Sandrock, Dr. Farrell-Burnett began to issue commands. Trowa exited his Gundam and went over to Sandrock to check on its pilot. A couple of medics came over and helped him lower the unconscious pilot onto a stretcher. Dr. Farrell-Burnett never failed to notice how Trowa was favoring his left arm as he followed the trio out.

Then Wu Fei emerged from his Gundam. He had a nasty cut on his forehead but this time, his face was spared from the angry frown he usually wore. Instead, he looked confused, almost mystified. And following him, was Mylin and Duo or rather, the alien supporting Maxwell. There was a long gash on his arm that was still bleeding profusely. The medics quickly rushed up to him.

Other injuries included some Preventer agents as well as the Maganac Corps. Rashid was there, supervising his men. The loss of one of his member was momentarily forgotten as he looked after his surviving team, worrying over the state their beloved master was in.

Lastly, came the person that made the impossible possible. This time, Sally was surprised to see Kylie waiting outside the cockpit as Heero appeared. She wheeled her chair over, cautiously observing him in great detail. Heero, on the other hand, was looking so tired it was as if he had aged a year.

He took a few wobbly steps towards her only to collapse on her lap.

**xxxx**

"What the hell happened?" was the first question that came out of **_Kylie's_** mouth as she stalked into the room.

"Yeah, what was that?" **_Heero-clone_** supported, having taken most of the insults.

Duke Kent Winteridge and Instructor D exchanged glances. Then both of them looked at the dissatisfied clones, calmly. "It seems that our enemy has a few surprises still. It could be that they'd been keeping this secret weapon until they found the right time to use it."

"But the question is what is the secret?"

"It's a new system," **_Heero-clone_** answered. "I'm sure of it. It could be some form of a Zero System that we've never heard of."

"In that case, then perhaps we have a problem."

**_Quatre-clone_** looked at their leader. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Simple," said Winteridge, nonchalantly. "We'll simply uncover its secret." He turned to Instructor D. "Contact the spies. I want to know about this system." His right hand man nodded in obedience. "And maybe it's time we get in touch with our friend as well. He'll be very interested to know about this."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **Alright, no excuse this time. I am a bad author for leaving my readers for far too long. Bow I'm so sorry. It'll happen again though I'll try my very best to avoid it. Anyway, about the Zero-Infinity system, I know that for those who have read Starling's fic, you're familiar with it. The fact is, I have been planning to write something on a special Zero system and name it Infinity since forever. I guess, Starling beat me to the punch. So, I just renamed it Zero-Infinity.

Yippie! I love this part.

**Justin**: You rock! Your feedback is one of those I really love. Thanks for the compliment and the tips. And winced I hadn't thought about giving the poor guy a name! Thanks for pointing that out to me. I'll think of one right now.

Ha… ha… actually, I CAN imagine Heero on a killing spree calling out "puppies, puppies, puppies". But only if he's seriously broken by the Zero System. Ha… ha… that was hilarious!!!

**SilverRocks**: Thanks for the feedback. And sorry for keeping you wait.

**Mara Roberts**: It's okay. I know how college life can be. See? It took me a month to update! I'll just go browse around for a beta reader. Hey, you think they'd put an ad?

**Starling**: I always appreciate your tolerance (excuse me!) and effort to keep ZT alive. And the will to face tardy writers like me. I know I promise this chapter by Friday but ended up sending it on Monday morning. If you were my lecturer, you'd fail me straight away shudders. Kiss Corran for me.


	3. Chap 3: Factor Infinity

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**SHATTERED WALLS III: FACTOR INFINITY.**

By Arayelle Lynn.

The silence in the room was almost deafening. They waited, mustering as much shred of patience as they could find, watching the girl in the wheelchair ran her fingers on the keyboard. Her face was impassive and eyes betrayed nothing.

Lying on the bed, Heero had his eyes close, trusting her to do about her business with him. There were about five electrodes sticking onto his head, arms and heart, which connected to the database that she was hunching on. Beside her, stood Dr. Farrell-Burnett, assisting the girl. A look of utter disbelief decorated her pretty face.

"Unbelievable!" they heard her commented a couple of times. They turned their heads to her, expecting her to provide the answers but the doctor was too preoccupied with the reading to notice their growing impatient.

"Kylie?" Quatre spoke up, after nearly half an hour.

The girl stiffened but did not as much spare him a glance. Instead, the doctor turned to them. Her face was a mixture of excitement, confusion and disbelief. "This is amazing! It's almost impossible," she declared to them.

Sally had to bit her tongue from telling her that Heero had a knack for impossible feats. Instead, she let the others do the talking. "What is? What did you see?" Duo rushed his words.

"The readings! His brain activity. It's beyond the capability of mankind of greatest genius," she admonished, offering them very little. She was too excited to be coherent. "We're seeing a miracle here! This is an impossible readout."

The others turned their heads back to Kylie, who still had her back on them. Silently, they pleaded for clarification but the girl had seemed to shut off everything around her except the readings on monitor. Then, after a few more minutes, her fingers stopped moving as she sighed and turned to Heero. Gingerly, she removed the electrodes.

"Are you feeling strong enough?" she enquired, helping Heero up. She had noticed him waking up while she was taking the reading of his brain activity.

"Yes," Heero answered, curtly. He watched as she put the equipment away. "What was that, Kylie?" he finally asked the important question.

Kylie hesitated. Then, she turned around to meet the others' questioning look. "What you have all seen just recently is the result of a new and improved system," she began.

"A new and improved system of what?" Noin prompted.

"The Zero system."

XXXX

"This could be a problem, you know," his longtime friend commented, breaking his thoughts. Blinking his eyes as if just being awakened from sleep, Winteridge turned to meet a pair of brown eyes. He had been so deep in thought that he didn't notice that Instructor D hadn't left the room.

"Hmm? Oh yes, it could be a problem," he agreed. Then there was a gleam in his eyes. "And it could also prove to be a solution."

His friend looked at him, unable to follow his trail of thought. "How's that?"

"Whatever secret weapon the Gundam pilots have, it seemed to have boost up their skills in combat. And they, being less perfect than our Gundam pilots. Think what the system can do for our clones."

Instructor D nodded, thoughtfully. "I follow that but what do you mean by a solution?"

Instead of answering, Winteridge gave him a question of his own. "How are our clones? Are they showing any signs of deterioration yet?"

Finally, everything dawned on him as he shook his head. "No, nothing that could prove our good Dr. Randells' fears," the trainer answered.

"And yet we've seen the reports and know that it's inevitable."

Instructor D studied him. "So, you're thinking that this secret weapon of them could help us keep our clones?"

Winteridge neither deny nor acknowledge the answer. He knew that his friend had gotten his message.

Instructor D nodded to himself. "There is one more thing that bothers me." Winteridge looked at him. "If the Gundam pilots had been keeping this secret weapon, why have they used it only now? Why not use it during the attack on MO V?"

"That, my friend, is one of the mysteries we're mulling over now," he answered. "Hopefully, our spy in the Preventers agency would be able to solve it." He smiled at the prospect. "And uncover enough of its secret for our own use."

D nodded again. Then a thought struck him. "And there's one more thing."

Winteridge's left eyebrow rose. He had thought they were finished. "What is it?"

His assistant looked at him. His face unreadable but there's a gleam in his eyes. "Our mutual acquaintance has yet to show herself. This is puzzling. She should've made an appearance at first sign of battle." He frowned. "I know her. I raised her after all."

The aristocrat nodded. "Yes, that is a puzzling thought."

XXXX

"The Zero system? What the hell are you talking about?" Duo prompted, after a long stunned silence. "It can't be. The scientists said that the system is flawless. It needs no improvement at all."

Kylie shook her head, steeling herself for an argument. "The system itself is flawless but its failure to be of complete use to the Gundam pilots is."

"Alright, alright," said Quatre, coming between Duo and Kylie. "Perhaps you should start at the beginning," he said, gently to her. "Maybe how you have the idea to improve the system where the scientist failed?"

Unfazed by the proximity and tone of his voice, she shook her head. "This new improvement is not my work," she corrected him, further surprised the others. "I don't know how to explain it but it seemed that the system is already stored in the Gundam's memory bank."

The five Gundam pilots exchanged glances. Then as one, they looked at Lady Une, who provided them with the Gundams in the first place. She shrugged. "I didn't know it was there. Howard's the one who sent them to me."

"So, how did you know the system is there?" Quatre prompted. Howard wasn't there so they couldn't ask him where he had gotten the Gundams from. Before this, the issue was never raised because they were too busy concentrating on the alien but now he was sorry that he didn't ask. But at the back of his mind, a nagging thought surfaced.

"I discovered it accidentally," Kylie answered, turning to Heero. "I was doing a standard diagnostic run when I thought of running a complete system check on Wing Zero's memory banks." Heero nodded, now recalling the times when he thought that Kylie was keeping something from him. "But I couldn't tell you what it was until I've done learning about the system. I want to determine whether it's dangerous or not."

"So, it's safe then?" Duo cut in. "You wouldn't let Heero use an untested system, would you?"

At that, Kylie's face grew grim. "This new system is as safe and dangerous as the old Zero system. Perhaps even more dangerous."

There were a collective gasps around the room. Even Heero and Trowa, the impassive ones among them, began to look concern. Letting the word sink in, Kylie reached out to the database and punched a few keys. A display appeared on the screen. "Gentlemen, I present you the Zero-Infinity system."

Again silence shrouded the room as they stared at the screen. It was Kylie's soft spoken voice that broke the silence as she explained to them. "The Zero-Infinity system is created to allow the Gundam pilots to delve deeper into the heart of the Zero system, without resulting the repercussions that we've seen four years ago." At this, the others looked at her. "It allows the pilot to interact with the system freely so both the pilot and the system could agree on one objective. It made them act as one."

"I don't understand," Dr. Farrell-Burnett interrupted.

Kylie turned to her, gauging how far she could trust her. When her eyes caught Trowa's nod, she continued. "As it stands, the original Zero system and the pilot are working separately." She turned her eyes on Mylin. "The objectives of both the system and the pilot are so contradicting that each would strive to overcome the other." She turned to the pilots. "That's why you went crazy after your first use of the system."

She raised her arm, stopping Quatre's words. "Yes, what the system did was to detect the enemy for you, allowing you to see the battlefield in a broader perspective. However, the system's objective will always be to destroy the enemy while the pilot's objective is to minimize casualty. That's where you both contradict. And that's how the mind of the pilot could be affected by the system." She looked at Mylin again. The alien nodded her head, accepting the unspoken gratitude in the girl's eyes.

"It would take a pilot his whole will and energy to overcome the system and totally master it." At this, she turned to Heero and Quatre.

"So, what does this improved system do?" Lady Une enquired.

"This new system eliminates the contradiction," she answered. "It allows the pilot and the Zero system to reach the same objective. It adjusts the Zero system to match the pilot's basic personality and state of mind."

Duo blinked. "Gee… it can do that?" Then narrowed his eyes. "How is that possible?"

"Because the system contained a full imprint of each of the pilots' brainwaves," she answered. "In other words, the system is designed only for each five of you."

Trowa glanced at the screen. "Which means, no one could access the system except the five of us?" It was more a statement than a question.

Kylie nodded. Then her face darkened. "However, as flawless as a system could be claimed, it could never escape mankind's weakness in creation."

"Meaning?" asked Duo, groaning inwardly. He knew that it was too good to be true.

"The system is dangerous in a sense that it…" she paused, looking for the right words. "Affects the life force of the pilot," she continued, for the lack of better words.

"So now you're talking about spirituality," Mylin spoke up, frowning. "How is that so? We know that technology and spirituality don't mix."

Kylie shook her head. "I don't know how but whoever created this system managed to overcome that." She looked at Wu Fei, the spiritual one among them. He met her gaze evenly and shook his head, not knowing the answer.

"Alright, alright. That's fine but I would like to know how it could affect us," Duo interrupted, impatiently.

"In the process of allowing the pilot and the system to interact freely, it could also drain the pilot to the point of complete exhaustion," she continued. "And the longer the pilot is connected to the system, the more dangerous it becomes. In short, it could shorten the life span of the pilot."

The others looked at each other. Heero kept his eyes on Kylie finally understood why she was so hesitant to tell him about the system. "That is why, I have minimized the use of the system on Heero," Kylie continued. She looked hard at the five pilots. "You can only use this system as a last resort. And once the system is activated, you'll only have 180 seconds before the affects kick in."

With that, she concluded the briefing, reaching over to switch off the database.

"Wait a minute, you haven't told us everything," Duo stopped her. She turned back to him. "What about showing us the complete schematics of the system? All you're showing us are the basics not the entire files. I want to know how the system works."

Kylie sighed, expecting the question. She looked up the pilots' expectant faces. "For security reasons, it's best that the full knowledge of the system is confined to one person. The less people who know about the system, the better."

"Meaning you?" Duo challenged. "How do you suppose we should trust you?"

Instead of answering, she switched off the database. Then without sparing Duo a glance, she said. "You're welcome to try and bypass the security measures I've installed, Maxwell," her voice turned cold again. "But that won't do you good. Trust me."

Duo harrumphed.

"I trust you," said Heero suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "I'll use the system as you advised."

Kylie nodded; no further words need to be exchanged between them. Their trust for each other went beyond flesh and blood.

"Me too," Quatre added. At this, Heero saw something akin to concern flashed in her eyes. But it was gone in a second as she turned to the remaining three Gundam pilots.

Trowa and Wu Fei nodded their agreement.

All eyes turned to Duo, who shook his head. "Sorry."

"Very well. I will start reconfiguring the system in your Gundams as soon as possible." With that, she left the room.

XXXX

He watched as the girl wheeled herself out of the room. A moment later one of the pilots, the serious one, emerged from the room, followed by two of his companions. He could hear an argument inside the room, just as the door slid close. Obviously, something the girl had said stirred the argument.

The three lingered outside the door for a while, until another person exited. It was the girl alien, who sighed. "Your friend Maxwell is trying to convince Winner against using the system. But I guess, we know it's all about him not trusting your wife, Heero Yuy."

The serious one of the pilot kept silence. Then without other word, he left the trio, his retreating form masking his fatigue very well.

"We can't afford to distrust one another in this," said Trowa, rubbing his left arm. With that, he also left but instead of heading towards the quarters, he headed straight for the communication deck.

"Tell that to him," the alien, Mylin, muttered. She also started to walk away.

He waited until the Chinese pilot left too. His eyes took in the way the pilot watched the alien went and then turned his head to where the girl in the wheelchair and Heero disappeared to. His face was one who was torn in two. Then, his look turned to cold resolute as he started after the alien.

'That's interesting,' he thought, as he came out from his hiding place. It's a rarity for someone to catch the Gundam pilots in their real state. But then again, he couldn't afford to wonder about that for long. First, he had to check in with his employer. He had an earful of information that his employer would be most happy to hear about. Besides, he had been too long overdue. Ever since the Preventers suspected that there was a spy among their rank, he hadn't been free to execute his duty. Until now.

So, turning around, he headed for his quarters.

Once there, he keyed in a series of numbers, locking the door. He couldn't afford to be discovered now when he had done such a painful job to not appear suspicious. Then, he walked over to his bed, pulling the mattress and he grope under it. When his fingers touched a cool object, he pulled it out, revealing a mini communicator.

He touched a button and waited.

"Report," said Instructor D as soon as his spy was online. The clones leaned forward to catch a clearer view of the screen while Winteridge leaned back, though his eyes betrayed his excitement.

"I've got news," said the spy. Since he couldn't risk exchanging pleasantries, he continued. "The new system that the Wing Zero used in the last system isn't that different from the Zero System. In fact, it's an improvement from the system. It's called the Zero-Infinity system."

"Zero-Infinity system?" Duo-clone echoed.

"It caters for the pilot's differences and complication when using the Zero System. It makes the pilots able to use the system without the regular side affects," the spy continued.

"Interesting," said Winteridge. "So now the Gundam pilots are able to use the Zero system as well as the clones."

"And they purposely hid the existence of the system until we have showed our abilities," **_Quatre-clone _**put in.

The spy shook his head. "That's not entirely true," he said. "The Gundam pilots weren't even aware that such system was installed in their Gundams." He paused. "Actually, the system was brought forward by a former pilot."

Realization hit Instructor D as an idea struck him. "Kylie Rayden."

"Precisely," the spy acknowledged. "She had been the one who discovered and studied it for some time. And now, I think she has passed on the knowledge to the rest of the Gundam pilots."

"So, the secret of the system and everything about it was brought by my original?" said **_Kylie-clone._**

"Yes." Then he paused. "And there is another thing that you might want to know about her."

At that, both Instructor D and **_Kylie-clone_** leaned forward. Even Winteridge looked even more interested. "Do tell."

"Kylie Rayden suffered a severe spinal damage in the Telrhani war two years ago. She's paralyzed."

"So that's why she was never in the battlefield!" **_Kylie-clone_** exclaimed. Instructor D and Winteridge exchanged glances at the unexpected revelation. Neither had thought that the reason for the girl's absence had been that.

"Yes, that explains a lot," said Instructor D, almost to himself.

The spy cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to him. "Of the Preventer's next move, I know not," he continued. "It seems that they were too fazed by the new development to plan anything big. But I heard that they've already sending their agents to L4 colony cluster to protect it. Probably, they're setting up a secret network that centered on that particular colony."

Winteridge nodded in understanding. Having a network in L4 would enable the Preventers to monitor their movements in space. That would make things a little difficult but he knew exactly what to do now.

"Further orders, sir?" It was then he realized that the spy had stopped talking and was waiting for orders.

Instructor D turned to the spy. "For now your utmost concern is to find out more about the Zero-Infinity system," he instructed. "Hack through the database. Use any means necessary even if it means breaking into the Gundam's computer system. We want the system and fast."

"Roger that."

Once the spy disappeared from the screen, he turned to Winteridge and found him nodding at him. "Good call," the aristocrat congratulated him. He would've said exactly the same thing. It seemed obviously now that his dear friend was starting to think like him. That fact alone made him smile.

"The Zero-Infinity system. Things are getting even more interesting finally."

XXXX

Trowa left the communication room with a frown. Things had not bode well with him. He had spent nearly one hour trying to get through his sister, Catherine, but it seemed that she wasn't in their apartment. He tried the other remaining member of his circus family and none of them had seen her.

Now, he was getting worried. It had been way too long since he was last able to contact Catherine.

'Where are you, sis?' he wondered as he walked back to his quarters. A sudden chill made him shiver.

"Trowa?" a female voice calling him made him look up. His green eyes met blue ones. It was Dr. Farrell-Burnet. She stopped before a door, carrying a stack full of files in her hands. Her eyes were on him, seriously. "I'd like to see you when you have the time," she said, nodding at his arms.

Realizing that he had been favoring his left arm, Trowa dropped his right hand to his side. "I'll drop by in a minute," he said, noticing someone in the infirmary. The condition of his arm was still a secret they both kept.

The beautiful doctor shook her head, displeased. "No way," she reprimanded him. "Stay in your room. _I'll_ drop by in a minute," she countered, knowing how sensitive he was about making his injury a public knowledge.

Without wasting any breath to argue, he nodded. Besides, it sounded like a good idea anyway.

So he continued on, his troubled thoughts never left. Once he reached the quarters that he was sharing with Wu Fei, he discovered that there was an envelope on his desk. His name was written on it. Frowning out of curiosity, he tore the envelope open.

What he saw in the envelope horrified him beyond belief. Grabbing his coat, he ran to the door.

XXXX

Quatre stared at Lady Une grimly. The head Preventer shook her head in dismay, after hearing his words. But it was not unexpected. They both knew that it would not be long until this happened. "So, Relena's finally got tired of waiting."

"She's… restless," Quatre paraphrased. "Or at least that's what Dorothy told me. Relena thinks that she needs to come back to Earth and speak to the Earth representatives about the colonists' new arrangement,

"As if you couldn't handle that yourself," Lady Une sighed.

He shook his head. "I could but it would be a little hard." Lady Une looked up, surprised by his words. "Relena's words would have more effects on them. After all, they're used to hear her wisdom during the times of crisis."

She nodded in agreement. As much as Quatre had become a good representative, the others would only hear Relena's word for they thought Quatre as a colonies representative while Relena represent the whole unified nation. Lady Une shook her head again. 'So much for unity. Mankind still has a long way to learn about segregating one another,' she thought.

"Alright, when will she be leaving?" she inquired.

"Tomorrow morning," he answered. "She'll be leaving with Dorothy."

Une nodded. "Very well, I'll have Zechs and Noin prepare for the journey. But knowing them, I'm not surprised if they've already started planning the safest route." Although they had shown the enemy that they could dispel them, outer space was still being controlled by Winteridge. And she didn't want any harm to come to the nation's only hope.

XXXX

Relena spared a glance through the window, noting the familiar colony that she had been residing in for two weeks now. Her lips were pressed in a tight line, her jaw set. Strong resolution filled her eyes as she thought about what had transpired recently.

Heero's married!

Kylie's alive!

Heero and Kylie married!

The news had come from Dorothy, who had come back to L4 with Quatre and Trowa earlier, looking very troubled and disturbed. Although the girl had explained the situation gently, the news itself hit Relena like a sledgehammer.

Heero and Kylie?

But she knew that it was a strong possibility. The two had been working perfectly well together that sometimes even Relena felt that they were meant for each other. For she had never seen Heero showed a strong sense of trust as he had for Kylie. He even risked himself being blown to bits in a futile attempt to save her from herself.

Still, the news hurt. She hurt.

So, there she was hiding in the Winners home for two weeks, trying to quench the overwhelming emotions that were trying to win her over. But no more. She would not cry anymore. The past is the past and there was nothing she could do to undone it. And the world need their voice of peace so she was inclined to bury her hurting heart so she could serve those she held dear better.

As always.

"Relena?" a voice from her right called to her. She turned and smiled at Dorothy.

"I'm alright, Dorothy," she answered, finding it hard to believe that the girl, who had once tried to provoke her and her peace ideals, was sitting next to her acting as her personal assistance. But Relena knew stranger things happened during conflict. Take the alien spy, who was working with the Gundam pilots for an instance.

However, Relena also knew the main reason Dorothy was here was because she wanted to see Quatre again.

"We'll be arriving in five hours," said Dorothy. "Maybe you should get some rest."

Before Relena could respond, the shuttle was plunged into red lights. A warning siren wailed, drowning everything. She and Dorothy exchanged glances as she thought of the same thing. They were under attack!

XXXX

He eyed the abandoned house warily. He could see no one in the house but the evidence in his hand told him that there was someone there. That and the fact that he could feel their presence inside the house.

He waited, deciding on his approach but no plan came to his mind at the moment. All he could picture was the image of a girl bound and tied to a chair. She was gagged but there was an unmistakable look of fear in her eyes.

Pushing the image away from his mind, he decided on the straight approach, knowing her captor would be able to sense his presence well.

So, he continued to walk. He ignored the growing throb in his left arm.

"Welcome, my brother," a voice greeted him even before he entered the house. He hesitated, deciding upon hiding behind a wall. Who knows, maybe his enemy was waiting for him with a gun ready to kill him.

A muffled squeal decided his option. Fastening his pace, he entered the house.

It was dark. Heavy curtains draped upon the window, making it harder for anyone to see inside or outside. The house itself was empty, except for the two beings, standing in the middle of the living room. One of them, the girl, was tied to a chair. The other, an image of himself, was standing next to her, a gun pointed at her temple.

"Are you so much a coward that you have to hide behind a woman to get to me?" he asked, gritting his teeth.

His captor returned his gaze calmly. "I got your attention, right? I have to say, you're one tough guy to attract."

"What do you want with me?"

"Actually, I wanted to finish what I had started," the clone replied, nonchalantly. Then his face darkened. "I've never miss my target before so now I want to set the record right." He turned the gun to Trowa. "Today, you will die."

Trowa raised his arms in surrender. "Do whatever you will with me," he said, calmly. How many times had he been threatened like this, he couldn't tell. Now it all seemed like a normal phase for him. "But release her. She had nothing to do with any of this."

His clone chuckled humorlessly. "She has everything to do with everything." He snorted. "Though I was surprised to learn that she is in fact our blood sister!" He trailed the gun on her cheek. Trowa had to stop himself from leaping when she let out a muffled cry. "Who could've known about that, huh, Triton Bloom?" the clone smirked, using Trowa's real name.

"Let her go!" Trowa gritted his jaw, giving emphasis on each word. He was getting more impatience as Catherine stared at him pleadingly, helplessly. "This is between you and me."

"Very well," said the clone, pushing himself away from her. Without another word, he pulled the trigger. Trowa dove behind a pillar as the bullets ricocheted through the wall, where he had been standing a second ago. Trowa waited for another shot to determine the current location of his now invisible enemy but there was none. Instead he could only hear Catherine muffled cries as she struggled against her bonds.

Cautiously, Trowa craned his head forward, his eyes scanning the room. To his surprise, the clone had disappeared. Frowning over this strange encounter, Trowa scanned the room again, looking for signs of a trap as he walked cautiously towards Catherine.

When he finally reached her, he realized the clone's plan. There was never a trap in the house! Instead, Catherine was the trap all by herself. Strapped firmly around Catherine's chest were a few wires that connected to a black box. And the black box seemed to be ticking. It was a time bomb!

Figuring out the clone's method to annihilate him, Trowa crouched down quickly. He didn't even bother to remove Catherine's gag as he trailed his fingers over the bomb. '20 seconds!' he realized with a start.

He set to work.

"Mmpff…" Catherine tried to say, as she watched her brother work over the complex-looking bomb.

"I'm not leaving you," he said, his voice calm but his heart was starting to pound as he examined the mechanism. He discovered with great dismay that the clone had used a totally different kind of circuitry like the ones he and his companions used on the colony.

15 seconds…

Catherine was getting more agitated as the time flew by. That didn't help Trowa in the matter for her panicking state drove him into more distraction and desperation.

"I will not leave you!" he repeated, sweat began to trickle down his cheek. He started to rethink his approach.

10 seconds…

Tears poured down her cheeks. Trowa looked up to her when a drop fell onto his hand. He smiled at her, cupping her chin. "It's either we get out of this alive together or we die together," he said, gently. "You know I can't live without you."

Catherine was startled to see the pain in his eyes. She momentarily forgotten about the bomb tied around her as she stared into his green eyes. It was then her love for her brother grew even more as the thought of him dying because of her struck her conscious.

Then, she heard something being ripped. Catherine stifled a cry as she heard a loud, ear-splitting explosion and the sensation of being thrown onto the floor.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES:** What? Three months of zero updates! I ought to spank myself. Yeesh. I am so very sorry, guys. I'm undergoing a rather trying time right now. First, I'm being harassed by a guy who doesn't take no for an answer. And I've got the feeling that he's stalking me as well, since he knew where I live. Then I have a little misunderstanding with my boyfriend, I don't know what to do. And I'm having this huge case of writer's block. Can't believe I actually had those. Anyway, hope this chappie will cheer you guys up.

Okay, replies!

**Starling: **Glad to hear Corran's doing well. How old is he now? Too bad about Hit List. It's a good piece of work. Have you ever thought of collaboration? Maybe it'll help with the writer's block.

**Elizabeth: **What? You think I would abandon the thing between Heero and Relena? Not a chance. They're not getting away that easily chuckling evilly. The whole thing about using the Greek gods' names for the clones' gundams was to symbolize the clones as more perfect than the Gboys (since our boys do have flaws but were known as perfect soldiers. So, who's more perfect than human?) Glad you enjoyed the chapter.

**Arina: **I'm really glad you love the chapter. Yes, the story is taking a darker turn. Since you've been a great reader, let me give you a hint. We will find out all of Kylie's darkest secrets. And it will change her forever (good or bad?). So, stay tuned.

**Justin: **I know. I am not good at description. In fact, it's one of my main flaws! I tried describing the system through Kylie in this chapter and I hope it'll satisfy you. I hope you'll continue writing too. Your Gundam fic is still one of the few that I truly love.

Oh, how's the girl-hunting getting on?


	4. Chap 4: Dangers

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**SHATTERED WALLS IV: DANGERS.**

By Arayelle Lynn.

He watched as she worked on one of the Gundams. Sitting on the wheelchair, she was hunched over a notebook on her lap. Her hair cascading down her shoulders, loosely, as she frowned over some difficult problem she needed to fix when reconfiguring the whole system. The plate and the glass of juice on the floor lay untouched as she momentarily lost herself in her work.

Noticing her choice of Gundam in which she had decided to work on, he shook his head. He walked out of the shadows.

"You're a hypocrite, you know that?" he voiced, feeling a tiny spark of triumph as the girl stiffened a little, surprised by his silent approach. But it was gone a heartbeat later as she continued her work, ignoring him.

"You're still in love with Quatre and yet you caused him pain by saying otherwise," he looked at her, disgusted. "Even worse, you drag your twin brother into this mess, costing him perhaps his only chance of regaining his humanity, his own perfect happiness."

Kylie cast him a quick glance at that. Shrugging, she returned her attention to reconfiguring Wu Fei's Gundam. "You're wrong, Maxwell. I care nothing about Quatre. And as for Heero, it was his choice. Not mine."

"Really?" Duo's eyebrow perked up. "Then why don't you tell me this," he said, leaning forward. "Why are you working on Wu Fei and Trowa's Gundams first?

At that, Kylie's head snapped up. Her eyes instinctively landed on Sandrock, which was a few meters away. When she turned her head back, Duo had his arms crossed over his chest. He looked at her challengingly. "Can you answer me that? Or do I need to say that the reason is that you were trying to stall Quatre from using the system? That you were trying to spare him the after affects of the new system like the one you imposed on your brother?" He pressed. "I mean, we all know that the system would be more useful to a leading Gundam and Quatre is the leader."

Before Kylie had the chance to respond, the alarm sounded. A second later, Preventers' technicians began to fill the empty hangar. Duo grabbed one of them. "What happened?" he demanded.

The technician looked at them, breathlessly. "It's the Vice Foreign Minister! Her shuttle's under attack."

**>>> >>>**

Heero ran to his Gundam. He skidded to a stop when he found Kylie waiting for him there.

"Trowa's missing," she simply said, but her eyes read Heero's expression very well. There was a dark look in his eyes. "And I haven't done with the installation on Sheng Long and Sandrock yet."

He nodded at the unspoken request, impatient to get a move on.

"Protect her well, Heero," she suddenly said as Heero was stepping into the cockpit. There was an unreadable look in her eyes.

"Roger," he responded, monotonously.

She nodded. "I'll monitor your progress from here," she said, moving towards the exit. As she made way to where her quarter was, her eyes unconsciously trailed towards the opposite Gundam, where a blond pilot was stepping into. She looked away when his eyes were upon her.

**>>> >>>**

Mylin jogged down the hallway that led to the holding bay, fully suit up. The attack had come as a surprise, though it was expected. The only thing that caught Preventers by surprise was that how swiftly the enemy had detected the shuttle's location especially since it was using one of the Preventer's most secretive routes.

But Mylin, being the Emperor's Eyes for longer than she could remember, knew exactly what could be going on. And she had suspected it since the beginning.

They had a spy!

And not just any ordinary spy, he was a professional one that had been able to hid himself from the eyes of his enemy since day one.

So, as she made her way hurriedly towards the holding bay, she kept her eyes on the agents that tarried along the hallway, searching for signs of a possible spy. To her, it takes a spy to catch another.

Suddenly something inside her clicked. She stopped in midstep as she tried to determine the source. She would usually experience the feeling if there was danger. But as she looked up and down the corridor, she noticed that she was all alone now.

So, what could've triggered the feeling?

Taking some slower steps forward, Mylin kept her ears open. A second later, her hearing was awarded with the whirring sound that came a few meters away. Silently, she made her way towards the sound, only to discover that it came from the other corridor adjoining hers. As she craned her neck for a look, she caught the sight of Kylie, wheeling her chair passed the other corridor. She was talking to someone through the head piece she wore on her head.

Mylin frowned. Why had the girl stirred her feeling of danger?

Unable to figure out what it meant, Mylin decided to follow Kylie, hoping that she was just overreacting.

**>>> >>>**

'I'm coming!' he thought as he accelerated. The journey to outer space from Earth was painfully slow. They first had to break free from the gravitational pull of the planet before having to adjust the Gundams' flight sequence to match space's zero-gravity state. All these took time and time was a luxury that he could not afford to lose.

"Damn!" he cursed, half-surprised by his reaction and half-angry at his own incompetence. Hadn't he promised Relena earlier that he would protect her?

'I'm coming, Relena!' He knew that there were Preventer agents escorting the Vice Foreign Minister but Heero only trusted himself to be able to do the job well. When it came to Relena's safety, he found himself feeling quite sensitive. One of the feelings he had never experienced before.

His comm. clicked. "Once we're there, all agents converged on the shuttle," Quatre started with his commands. "The Gundams will take care of the attackers."

Heero acknowledged his orders. As much as he had wanted to stay close to protect Relena, he knew that it was even dire for him to take the most brunt of the battle. Especially since Kylie had told him that she hadn't done with Wu Fei and Quatre's Gundams and that Trowa's suddenly missing.

Besides, he was determined to make someone pay for endangering Relena's life. Someone was going to pay hell that day!

**>>> >>>**

"Wu Fei, I have yet to finish the installation," said a female voice, replacing Quatre's.

He nodded, acknowledging the fact by glancing at the screen that featured his Gundam's internal system. "I'm going to create an interface with your computer and mine so I could finish it as you fight," she continued, not wanting the Chinese pilot to be alarmed by the system's intrusion.

"Do what you will," he said, seeing one of the screen blinking. "Leave the fighting to me."

"Roger."

**>>> >>>**

"There!" said one of the agents. "There they are! I see them."

Quatre sucked in his breath. Although the battle was still going on, it looked as if the shuttle was faring badly. Despite of the Preventers' customary white Taurus that was assigned to protect the shuttle, Quatre could see that some of the wild shots had actually hit the shuttle. And judging from the smoke coming from its stern, and the fact that one of its wings were missing, he could tell that they had arrived just in time.

Quatre's screen blipped, as he scanned his adversaries. There were twenty mobile suits attacking the shuttle. Five of them were the clones' and the rest were just standard gundanium-made Virgoes. But still, the odd wouldn't be good for the shuttle and its passengers if they linger any further. Especially since Zech's Epyon was the only Gundam that was keeping the five new Gundams at bay.

"Spread out!" he commanded, as Wing Zero tore away from formation to engage a familiar mobile suit.

"Roger that," came Wu Fei's response.

"Affirmative," said Sally, in charge of the Preventers' squad this time. Since Noin and Zechs had been the one escorting the shuttle, Sally was given charge of the Preventers' squadron. Quatre accepted the change well, knowing that medic officer could hold on her own nicely in the battlefield.

Pushing away his concern for his fiancée, Quatre dove into action.

**>>> >>>**

Kylie reached her quarters in record time. She listened through the headpiece, intently, wishing that she could see the battle so she could evaluate its intensity. From the curses and crashing sounds she heard, she could tell that Wu Fei wasn't doing any good.

Reaching her workplace, she was surprised to find her database had been switched on. But the sound of a crash and a pained cry quickly dispelled her concern as she was reminded of the battle. Her fingers danced on the keyboard as she activated the interface.

"I'm in," she reported to Wu Fei. "Resuming system configuration."

"Make it snappy," Wu Fei retorted, she could hear the strain in his voice from the battle so she ignored the bite in his tone.

Kylie kept her focus solely on the task, unaware of her surroundings. Beads of sweat trickled down her cheeks as she replayed the process to install the new system. 'Almost done,' she thought, as her fingers move tirelessly in their mad dance.

The screen then blinked as a tiny box appeared. She awarded herself with a little sigh of relief. "Wu Fei, the system is installed. Type in Zero and press Enter," she repeated the process. "Press your left palm on the symbol on your left screen. And then you'll have…" her voice trailed off as she sensed a movement from behind.

It was then Kylie realized her fatal mistake. If she hadn't been too distracted, she would've noticed that someone was in her room. But it was too late. Before she could even reach for the gun that was hidden under the fold of her pants, she felt something cold and hard smacked across her head.

**>>> >>>**

"Kylie?" Wu Fei called out, glancing at the screen warily. He hadn't quite caught the last part of her sentence, thanks to his clone's precise hit. So once he regained control of his Gundam, he didn't know what to do.

"Kylie?" he called again, knowing that channel was still open. He could hear her breathing.

Suddenly he heard the sound of an object connected to something, followed by a single cry and a crash. All of it came from the comm. "Kylie!" he exclaimed, as the line went dead. "Kylie!" he tried to reestablish the connection but failed.

A movement from his left caught his eyes but he was too late to evade.

"Wu Fei!" a voice called out to him. The missiles exploded before it hit Altron.

He looked up to see Wing Zero engaging a fight with Gundam Poseidon, Hades and Zeus.

"Heero! I've lost Kylie," he told his friend. "I'm on the last stage of activating the system. What do I do next?"

"Is there a symbol on your left hand screen?"

"Yes.'

"Touch it. The screen'll read your print and activate the system."

Wu Fei did what he was being told. A moment later, the cockpit began to hum as a white glow enveloped him, blinding him utterly. Suddenly, he felt his body grew lighter and he felt free. Once the white glow subsided, he found himself looking at outer space, unhindered by the presence of the screens in the cockpit. Everything around him became clearer, as if he was floating in space without a space suit. And the battlefield he realized, looked more realistic than before.

He was looking through Nataku's eyes!

A light exploded, coming from the shuttle's direction as a Taurus was felled. Wu Fei turned to see Sally's squad being driven away from the shuttle. And Zechs locked in a tight battle with Nemesis. "Wu Fei, help Quatre," said Heero, having a chance to spare a glance at his leader's progress. Sandrock wasn't doing that well with Ares on his tail. Then without another word, Wing Zero left the vicinity, Gundam Zeus following him close behind.

Wu Fei knew that it was useless to stop Heero. The former World Nation queen usually caused a very strange reaction upon his friend. And Quatre needed his help, since his Gundam wasn't equipped with the new system yet. Plus, Wu Fei was dying to try the system on his clone.

Pushing away his other concerns, he attacked.

**>>> >>>**

Heero had already pushed himself to his limits. But even with the Zero-Infinity system on, he found himself struggling to keep his clone and Duo's at bay. Both turned out to be powerful adversaries when together and Heero knew, having the new system on was the only thing that made him equally if not slightly better than them.

Provided if he could defeat his enemy in thirty five seconds!

"Heero!" he heard a voice called out to him. A feeling tugged at him as he pulled his left throttle, narrowly missing a hail of missiles. A look to the left told him that Gundam Hades and Zeus were gaining on him to stop him from reaching the shuttle in time.

"Heero!" that voice called out again. Heero immediately recognized it as he approached the exposed shuttle. A familiar face appeared from the interior of the shuttle, a comlink in her hand and face pressed against the window. She seemed to be staring through the gundanium armor, straight at him.

"Relena," he breathed, slightly in relief. For a moment, their eyes locked into each other as Heero expressed his assurance to her and she expressed her faith in him. She then nodded before disappearing in the interior.

Once he determined that he was close enough to make his stand, he turned Wing Zero around to greet the enemies. He fired his twin buster rifle, disabling the enemy's Virgoes suit that was attacking the shuttle.

Then, he whipped out his beam saber, in time to parry Zeus's beam spear. He returned the blow, which his clone gracefully blocked and fired a hail of concussion missiles at him. Heero raised his shield to deflect the missiles, narrowly missing his beam saber when Zeus came at him on his moment of short distraction.

Heero glanced at the time. 10 seconds left!

He clenched his teeth. He was running out of time since he could not overexpose himself to the new system. But for Relena, he was willing to do anything. Even suffering the after affect of the system.

Suddenly, in his moment of musing, he remembered something. Looking around the battlefield, his heart started to hammer inside his ribcage. Where was Gundam Hades?

Then, to his horror, he found it. Duo's clone was hovering before the helpless shuttle. His Vulcan cannon ready to fire. "No!" Heero found himself shouting, disengaging himself from Gundam Zeus. He willed Wing Zero to reach Relena in time.

But he was too late. Like the God of the Dead himself, Gundam Hades passed his sentence to the passengers. The shuttle exploded.

Three voices cried their sorrow.

**>>> >>>**

Her eyes scanned the corridor carefully. She had lost sight of her prey, much to her dismay. But Mylin knew exactly where she would find Kylie Rayden. Only thing was, she didn't know what she would find once she reached the human's quarters. Only that she hoped that she was wrong.

"What are you doing here still?" a voice made her jump a little. Mylin chastised herself for letting someone sneak up on her that easily. She turned to face Duo Maxwell. "Aren't you suppose to be in space by now?" he inquired, suspiciously.

Mylin glanced at her space suit, remembering that she was supposed to be with the rescue team.

"Well?"

She debated with herself. Should she tell Maxwell the truth? Given his dislike for the former assassin, Duo might take Mylin's suspicions a little too extreme. No, she cannot tell Maxwell that Kylie could be a spy. It would do more harm than good if she was wrong since the thought itself was ridiculous, if not impossible.

"I think Kylie's in danger," she finally decided on half the truth. At least she'll get his attention and cooperation.

Duo frowned. As much as he hated Treize's ward, he knew that the secrets she was carrying could not fall into the enemy's hands.

He nodded. "Let's go."

**>>> >>>**

She shook her pounding head, dizzily. The force of the blow had thrown her to the floor. Suppressing a moan, Kylie tried pushing herself from the floor but stopped when she heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

"Ah… ah… none of that, please," said a male voice. She looked up and glared at the Preventer agent standing above her. His hand held a gun which was trained on her head. In his other hand, he held a computer disk.

"You're a spy," she accused, cursing herself mentally.

He grinned, tipping the disk. "The pay's good. Thanks for the new system. I'm sure the duke will be most appreciative."

Kylie eyed the disk as his face changed. "You, however, are too dangerous to let live." He fingered the trigger. "Especially now that you know who I am."

A shot rang and something clattered to the floor. Surprised, the spy stared at the red mess that used to be his hand and at his gun which lay on the floor, near the wall. His eyes then trailed back to his prey, to the twin barrel that lay hidden underneath her. A smile crept on her face. But there was no humor in that smile.

Another shot rang and this time, it tore a hole through the disk and the hand that held the disk. The spy stared at his missing fingers, in shocking disbelief. "I'll be sure to tell Winteridge how lousy you are as a spy," said Kylie.

The last thing he remembered seeing was a pair of cold blue eyes. Then there was nothing.

"Kylie!" a voice admonished, as the spy dropped to the floor. She looked up to see Mylin and Duo staring down at her, then at the crumpled form of a Preventer agent. Both had arrived in time to hear the spy identified himself but was too late to stop Kylie from shooting him. It had all happened too fast, even for the alien.

Mylin dropped next to the agent, to feel his pulse. But seeing the gaping hole in his head, she stopped herself knowing that the spy was dead. She shook her head, glancing at Kylie. Duo had gone to call up security. "Nice shooting. But I wish you'd let him live so we could interrogate him."

Kylie pushed herself up, gritting her teeth as the throbbing intensified. "Can't have that. He knows too much," she answered, satisfied that the disk was damaged beyond repair. She then stared at the body, dispassionately. "How's the battle?"

Mylin studied her for a moment then shook her head. "I don't know."

**>>> >>>**

"Relena!"

"Dorothy!"

"Noin! Relena!"

The cries echoed throughout the channel as three pilots turned to stare at the remains of the shuttle. Time seemed to stop and the battle halted.

Quatre stared at the empty spot where Dorothy was. A familiar feeling started to creep back to him. The same feeling of helplessness that he had felt as he watched Gundam Nova exploded with Kylie in it. A choking feeling that shook his body as grief started to overwhelm him.

Not far away, Zechs cleaved an enemy suit into two. His fingers gripped the throttles tightly; unable to comprehend what had just happened. His enemy was everywhere and they were trying to stop him from getting to his sister and his wife.

And in his heart, he blamed himself. He should've talk Relena out of making a trip in outer space, knowing the danger. He should've chosen a more secure route for her. Most of all, he should've been the one who pilot the shuttle so Noin could've taken command of her agents. But he couldn't change everything now. The two women who meant the whole world to him were gone.

Meanwhile Heero was frozen in his seat. He was staring disbelievingly at the spot where he had last seen Relena. He couldn't believe that she was gone, couldn't believe that he had let the hope of the world die before his eyes.

Suddenly, he saw something floating before his vision. Blinking his stinging eyes, Heero was startled to discover that they were his own tears!

A feeling started to overwhelm him. It was a new feeling as much as it was familiar to him. It was the feeling of deep regret. Regret that he hadn't done a better job at protecting Relena. Regret that he had always caused her pain. And regret that he had never told her the truth.

Then a strange chill filled him as something blazed up inside him. For the first time in his life, he felt the presence of the rage in his heart. His thirst for blood outweighed his desire for justice and peace. He will kill them! He will kill them for killing her!

With a bloodcurdling yell, Heero swung his beam saber towards his clone. The Infinity-Zero system somehow made his movements twice as faster than before. Stunned by the speed and ferocity of Heero's attack, the clone didn't have the time to defend himself.

"Quatre!" a female voice called out, stopping the deadly beam saber just inches away from Gundam Zeus' cockpit. "Come in."

It wasn't the voice itself that pulled Heero, Zechs and Quatre out of their grieving state; it was _whom_ the voice belonged to. "Dorothy?" Quatre finally found his voice. "You're alive?" his voice laced with disbelief.

"We're in an escape pod. We launched just before the explosion."

Quickly, Heero scanned the area and found the small pod among the debris. If it hadn't been for the Gundam's superior tracking system, they would've missed the escape pod! "We? Who's with you?" Heero heard Quatre inquired. The pod itself couldn't hold more than two people.

"Noin and Relena are with me," Dorothy answered, her voice betrayed her distress. "But you've got to help Relena. She's hurt and Noin too."

Hearing that, both Wing Zero and Epyon quickly rushed forward, only to be stopped by their adversaries. Gundam Nemesis stood between Epyon and the pod as Zeus circled around Wing Zero. Meanwhile, Gundam Hades started to lock on the pod as his next target.

"Out of my way!" Heero growled, gritting his jaw. He tried to escape from his clone.

"Not a chance," his clone answered. "Relena Darlian will die today."

Just as he said that, something knocked into Zeus, bringing him out of Heero's way. Surprised, Heero saw a Taurus suit encircling its arms around Gundam Zeus. His screen flickered. "Go save them," said Trowa, the pilot of the borrowed mobile suit. "I'll take care of this one."

"Understood," said Heero, flying away even before Trowa finished his sentence. He flew straight towards the pod, aiming his buster rifle at Gundam Hades. When a fire was shot from the Vulcan cannons, the buster rifle's beam intercepted it as Wing Zero swooped down and hugged the escape pod in his arms.

Then the enemy troop retreated, as the Preventers and Gundam pilots returned to Earth with their priceless treasures.

**>>> >>>**

Lady Une rushed into the infirmary, where the medical team had taken Relena and the others to. She was not surprised to find all the Gundam pilots, Zechs, Mylin and Kylie there. In fact, she was more concerned to find the state they were all in.

Relena, Noin and Dorothy were all confined in their respective cots. All three were unconscious. Quatre was sitting next to Dorothy's bed, deep concern etched on his youthful face. Dorothy's face was filled with cut and bruises. There's a bandage wrapped around her head.

Zechs meanwhile was sitting between Noin's bed and Relena's, his fingers stroking his wife's cheek with the gentleness Une never thought he possessed. Noin herself had her arm in a cast and there was a burn mark on her throat.

Turning to Relena, Lady Une was surprised to find Heero sitting near her bed, his eyes set only on her. Unlike the other two, Relena's injuries appeared to be little. The only thing that gave a clue that she had been attacked was the little cut on her forehead. But looking at Heero's concern-filled eyes, she knew that it had to be more serious than that.

Lastly, her eyes strayed on Treize's ward. Kylie was sitting on the last cot, her eyes watching the wounded like an eagle. Lady Une had heard news of the spy just after she was supervising the retreat and had no time to hear the rest of the story. So, she was more than alarmed to see Kylie there.

Before she could ask the girl what happened, Sally and Dr. Farrell appeared.

"How are they?" she asked them as the others turned to the two medics.

Dr. Farrell looked at their faces, sympathetically, and then glanced at her patients. "Well, Agent Noin suffered a broken arm and a little burn, Miss Catalonia will be aching for the next few days but the cuts and concussion are not serious. Both will recover in time." Then she frowned at Relena, seriously. "Miss Darlian's condition concerns me more. She's suffering from severe concussion. We don't know when she'll regain consciousness." She looked at Heero sympathetically, recalling how the young pilot had rushed into the infirmary, carrying Relena. There was fear in his eyes then.

Lady Une sighed. Although Winteridge failed to destroy Relena, he in a way, had succeeded. With Relena out of commission, the Earth Sphere Unified Nation would be thrown into chaos. Unless, someone with an equal strength in influence could replace her. But who?

Her gaze landed on Quatre. Of all, she could think of him to have nearly an equal in influence as Relena. But seeing the pain and fatigue in his eyes made her loath to burden him with even more problems.

She rubbed her eyes, willing away the headache. First Quatre Winner and now Relena Darlian. Was Winteridge planning to destroy the two so they could cause chaos in the Earth Sphere?

"Alright," she acknowledged the doctor's report as the woman left. She will deal with the problem later. But now, there's another matter needed to be settled. She turned to Duo, Mylin and Kylie. "What's this about a spy? How did he get in?" she asked them.

The rest of the occupants looked up, surprised. Even Quatre, Zechs and Heero paid attention.

"He's a traitor," Duo answered, having checked the records. "He had been hired by Winteridge to spy on us since Project Jupiter. And he had been the one who informed Winteridge of our movements." He paused. "Except those we discussed by ourselves, that is," he reported, his eyes sweeping across the occupant of the room.

"What happened?"

Duo looked at Mylin, who took over. "I got an instinct and brought Maxwell along to check it out."

Lady Une frowned, dismayed by the explanation. She herself had little trust in instincts but was thankful that the alien's instinct was accurate. She had saved them all a whole lot of trouble. "Where is he now?" she asked.

"Dead," Kylie answered, looking at her. "I killed him."

The head Preventers couldn't hide the disappointment in her eyes. If she had been there, she would've liked to take the spy alive. But all deeds were done and there was nothing she could do to change the whole incident. "What happened, Kylie?" she asked, curious of the girl's part in it.

"He was after the Zero-Infinity system," Kylie answered, her voice monotonous.

"I see," Lady Une responded, noticing how Heero and Quatre had turned their heads towards Kylie, rather sharply. Kylie in her part lowered herself onto the wheelchair and started to wheel herself out of the room. She pointedly ignored the stares she was getting.

When she was gone, Dr. Farrell reappeared carrying a tray full of gauze. She looked at the empty cot. "Where's Kylie?"

**>>> >>>**

Kylie's vision blurred as she stared at the screen. Her head was pounding like hell but she tried to ignore it. Rest will come later. First, she needed to finish what she had started. So, when she heard the door hissed open, she found herself too tired to even turn around to greet Heero.

"Has Relena woken up yet?" she asked.

"No but Heero will inform us when she does." Kylie almost jumped in her wheelchair when she realized that the voice did not belong to Heero. She turned around to see Quatre.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped.

Quatre regarded her with deep concern. "Duo told us that the spy attacked you. Heero was concern but he couldn't leave Relena," he answered, feeling confused by his friend's response to Relena's condition. "Dr. Farrell was concern because she'd never the chance to see your wound."

"I'm fine," Kylie said. "Tell Heero not to worry."

He glanced at the screen, for the first time seeing the full schematics of the Zero-Infinity system. "What are you doing?" he asked, watching her work.

"Deleting all information on Zero-Infinity system for good," she answered, curtly. "Can't let that incident happen again." She glanced at him. "Now everything about the system is stored in my mind." He nodded, seeing the merit in her action.

"You're bleeding," Quatre pointed out, noticing Kylie's blood-stained turtleneck.

Instinctively, Kylie's hand flew to the back of her head. Her fingers came away bloody. "Let Dr. Farrell take a look at it, okay?" he requested, gently. "There might be internal bleeding." When she started to protest, he cut her off. "She's just outside. I'll call her and then leave you two alone," he promised.

Reluctantly, Kylie nodded, suppressing a moan when the pounding in her head intensified. A moment later, Dr. Farrell entered. She was alone.

**>>> >>>**

Duo watched Heero staring at Relena's face. He had been sitting there unmoving for over three hours. His face appeared to be drained and tired but still the quiet pilot stayed near Relena. Duo was deeply concerned. He hadn't seen Heero like this before. Never. And it almost frightened him.

Not far from them, sat Quatre. He had returned from Kylie's room looking drained and unhappy. There was pain in his eyes when he had greeted Duo. Even his smile laced with pain which was not all for himself.

Seeing the state his friends were in, something stirred inside Duo. He found himself no longer be able to keep the truth. This had gone far enough. The pain that his friends were in must be dealt with and Duo was determined to see it done at any cost.

Even if it meant endangering his own happiness.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES:** Whoa! What do you think Duo's gonna do? He… he.. a little cliffie there. And did you really think I'd kill Relena? Hold that thought, well, maybe I might evil gleam. I'm trying to update as often as I can but between work, personal life, love life and this terrible thing called writer's block, I have my hands rather full. I've said it once and I'm saying it again, "I NEED a vacation!"

Okay, replies!

**Elizabeth: **Spy? What spy? He… he… now you know who. But wait a minute! Trowa dead! The horror! What? You think I'd really kill a great guy like Trowa? His female fans would slaughter me for this. Eep! runs away

P/S: The guy still doesn't take a hint. But he's bothering me less and less.

**Justin: **Thanks for the compliment. It's really nice to have someone giving me some constructive feedbacks. And how's your writing career? Are you publishing anything yet? How's the job hunting? You poor thing. I hope you'll be able to save the restaurant one day.

**ForeverRead: **Ah, another Quatre-Kylie fan. I'm so excited. I don't know if anything drastic will happen between the two, since Quatre IS marrying Dorothy and Kylie's avoiding him. Let's just see what will happen when Dorothy regained consciousness.

**SilverRocks: **Your interest in Quatre-Kylie relationship is touching! Though sad to say, I don't know yet where it will go. As much as he wants her, he has Dorothy and Kylie seemed to be harboring a secret which she rather keep. It's so hard writing them!


	5. Chapter 5: Unveiled

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **There's a reference to a scene from my previous fic "Survival of the Fittest" in this chapter.

**SHATTERED WALLS V: UNVEILED. **

By Arayelle Lynn.

The next six days went on uneventfully. Noin and Dorothy were finally discharged and resting in their respective quarters. Relena still hadn't regained consciousness; her lack of progress was worrying Dr. Farrell-Burnet. It was decided in the previous meeting that the enemy's targets were now Relena and Quatre, two of the most prominent figures on Earth and in space. For that reason alone, the two was kept heavily guarded. Dr. Farrell-Burnett hardly left Relena's side and Trowa and Wufei were watching Quatre like a hawk. The blond pilot had been supervising the formation of a secret network in the colonies. He had been back and fourth from Earth to space so he could monitor their progress personally. Fortunately, the Maganac corps had been helpful enough to volunteer as supervisors for each sector although it meant that they would be working separately for the first time the corp. was formed.

The news of the spy had disturbed Lady Une deeply, though. She hadn't expected that one of her specially-handpicked agent could be spying for Winteridge. Currently, she had Zechs and Sally looking over the personnel files to flush out other spies, if there were others. In the meantime, she had kept security at its maximum.

As things finally progressing nicely, however, Lady Une still found herself more than a little curious over the things between Heero, Relena and Kylie. Like the doctor, Heero had made Relena's bedside his permanent residence. He's hardly eating and sleeping. All the time, he would be staring at Relena, as if he was channeling his strength to help her overcome her never ending slumber.

This puzzled the head Preventer. She had seen the way Kylie was taking all of these. She had been very surprise to find Treize's ward nonchalant attitude, uncaring of the attention Heero was giving to Relena. It surprised Lady Une that Kylie allowed such closeness between the two former lovers where else, Heero was married to her! It was as if their marriage was a figment of imagination and that the only proof was the golden ringlets around their fingers.

Lady Une was itching to ask Kylie but the girl seemed to be more busy than usual. Once she had done erasing all the files on the Zero-Infinity system, she continued her work on Sandrock and Deathscythe, using what information she had stored in her own memory. Even being in the same base, Lady Une hardly seen her. But that didn't stop her from thinking that they both need to talk. Badly.

"Ma'am?" Lady Une looked up, being pulled out of deep thoughts. She realized that Agent Grant had been talking to her. "Ambassador Winner has returned. He requested to see you," he repeated, answering her questioning look.

She rose from her seat. "Send him right in, Grant."

**>>>>>>**

He watched as Quatre disappeared into the office. He had wanted to follow him but Quatre reassured him that he would be fine and that he wanted him and Trowa to take the time to rest. But judging from his friend's sagged shoulders and tired steps, Wufei knew that Quatre needed more rest than them. And rightly so because he hardly had any rest since the attack on Relena Darlian's shuttle. He had caught Quatre reeling a little on several occasions which went unnoticed by unobservant eyes.

Standing next to him, Trowa gave him a concern look. It was obvious that the silent pilot was also worried about the Arab. And the way he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to the door told Wufei that he was not leaving until Quatre stepped out of the office.

Figuring that he could do nothing useful there, Wufei decided to swing by his quarters. He knew that he was leaving Quatre in capable hands.

"Trowa!" A female voice interrupted Trowa's train of thoughts. He turned to see Dr. Farrell-Burnet.

He raised his eyebrow questioningly as she approached him. "You missed our last session," she said, her voice lowered as she regarded Trowa's puzzled look. "Where did you disappear to?" she asked, curious over his recent brief disappearance.

It took Trowa a moment to realize what she meant. "Oh, that?" he said, flexing his left arm. "I'm feeling better, doctor," he said. "I had to leave the base on a personal reason."

The doctor looked at him skeptically. "Without telling me? Or any of your friends?" She put her hands on her hips. Her eyebrow furrowed. "I don't think you realize the seriousness of your condition, Trowa Barton. You might even lose the arm if you keep neglecting the healing process."

"I understand it perfectly well, doctor," he said, backing away. "And I will try not to miss our next session but right now, I need to take care of something first." He then walked away, leaving a baffled doctor.

**>>>>>>**

Duo entered the infirmary, carrying a tray. As usual, he found Heero sitting on the same spot where he had been sitting for the past few days, unmoving. His eyes still on Relena's unconscious face as he listened to the beeping that indicated her pulse.

And for a hundredth time, Duo sighed, seeing the uneaten breakfast on the small table where he had placed earlier that morning. He placed the tray he was holding and turned to regard his friend. "You have to eat something, Heero. You can't continue on like this," he said, softly.

As before, Heero didn't even raised his head or even acknowledged his presence.

Duo sighed again. He was starting to worry about Heero. He didn't sleep at all and he looked terrible. There were black circles under his eyes and his half-lidded eyes were bloodshot. He looked thinner than usual and his skin had a strange color.

"Heero?" he walked up to his friend, laying a hand on his shoulder. But his friend failed to respond. His eyes and mind were fixed on Relena and her alone.

So, Duo decided on another tactic. "Hey, Heero! The base is under attack!" he shook his friend's shoulder.

That seemed to work. For the first time in days, Heero looked up. As his friend rose to his feet, Duo caught the look of profound guilt in his eyes. The look startled him so much that he failed to notice Heero's eyes rolled as his knees gave way under him.

"Oh, my god!" Duo realized, in time to catch his unconscious friend in his arms. Slowly, he eased his friend onto the floor, his eyes landed on a surprised attendant. "Quick! Get Sally Po or Dr. Farrell on the double!"

Nodding, the attendant rushed out, leaving Duo to check Heero's pulse. It was erratic. He felt Heero's forehead and drew his hand back when he felt fire on his skin. Heero's face was flushed and judging from that, he knew that it was fever.

"What happened?" Dr. Farrell asked as she rushed to Heero's side. Behind her, came Sally Po.

Duo watched as the two women checked his friend's vital signs. Then the three of them lifted Heero onto an empty cot nearby. "I don't know. He was sitting and suddenly, he collapsed," he reported, feeling slightly guilty for tricking Heero into rousing himself.

Dr. Farrell exchanged glances with Sally and nodded. "Exhaustion. Most probably caused by the use of the new system without replenishing his energy afterwards," she said to the field medic.

"What should we do?" asked Duo, feeling slightly worried now that his anger at his friend dissipated.

The doctor plunged a needle into Heero's arm. Then she turned to him. "Stay with him. All we can do now is let him rest until he regained his strength back." She glanced at the other occupant of the sickbay. "Perhaps, it's better this way, for both of them."

**>>>>>>**

Kylie wiped the sweat on her face as she wheeled into the common room. She had just finished her routine physical therapy and was looking forward to a quiet evening before retiring to her quarters. Scanning to make sure that the room was empty, she made her way straight towards the windows, where the sight of Earth's setting sun always calmed her.

She had only gone a few meters when she found that she was not alone. Behind a sofa, lay a pair of feet. Frowning, she approached the sofa, only to be greeted by a horrific sight. For the owner of the feet was none other than Quatre and he looked more dead than alive!

**>>>>>>**

The noise from outside the infirmary interrupted Dr. Farrell's examinations. Both she and Duo turned away from Relena's prone figure only to see Zechs bursting into the room, carrying Quatre in his arms.

For the second time within the hour, she found herself asking the same question. "What happened?" as Zechs placed the blond pilot on a cot. She took in her new patient's face, noticing the sickly pallor of his face and the paleness of his lips.

"What happened?" Duo demanded, seeing Kylie and Noin entering the room as well.

Instead of answering, Zechs turned to Kylie. "I don't know. I found him lying on the floor a few minutes ago," the girl answered, calmly.

Dr. Farrell frowned. Just then, Lady Une entered hurriedly. "I heard about Heero. What hap…?" she stopped in midsentence when she saw them hunching over a prone Quatre.

It was then the others noticed Heero on the other cot. "What happened?" Zechs demanded. Kylie looked slightly startle, seeing Heero there as her eyes strayed from the doctor to Duo.

Dr. Farrell threw up her hands. "That's it!" She started to push all of them out. "As the head physician of this base, I'm ordering **_everyone_** who's piloting Gundams or even has **_anything_** to do with those machines to get some rest," she said, having enough of the young pilots' disregard for health antiques. "In 10 minutes, I am going to pay a visit to your quarters and I expect all of you to be there when I do. Or else…" She waved a warning finger at all of them before locking the door.

Then she turned to Lady Une, whom she hadn't thrown out with the rest. "I swear they're going to be the death of me yet," she muttered, meaning not only Heero and Quatre and the people she had just thrown out but the absent Trowa as well.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

**>>>>>>**

For the third time that day, someone rushed into the infirmary. Looking up from the medical reports she had been reading, Dr. Tricia Farrell-Burnet found Dorothy Catalonia scanning the room breathlessly. Once her eyes landed on Quatre, she rushed to him.

"What happened?" she asked, taking his hand gently into hers. She looked at the doctor.

Inwardly, she cursed the people who invented the phrase. But seeing the distraught girl, she turned away from the database. She made her way towards the girl. "He's just exhausted. All he needs is rest," she said.

Dorothy nodded; her lips trembled as she took in Quatre's pale face. She gently brushed away a lock of blond hair that fell into his eyes, watching him sleep peacefully. "I should've known that he would not rest until he had everything set up," she murmured, referring to Quatre's secret network project. "I should've been there to make sure he rested."

Tricia put a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly. "You can't be everywhere at the same time, Dorothy," she said, feeling as if she's one step closer to understanding the Gundam family. "The past is the past and all we have to do is to make sure that all of them rested well," she said, referring to all Gundam pilots. "Who knows when the enemy would attack again."

Dorothy nodded, settling down for a long wait.

**>>>>>>**

Two days later, all of them found themselves assembling rather coincidentally in the infirmary. Heero and Quatre were well enough to leave that day but Heero seemed reluctant to leave Relena, though he hid his feelings well. He still refused to believe that he had fainted and would give Duo a withering look whenever the jovial pilot teased him about it.

At the moment, the room seemed a little tense as the doctor made her examination on Relena. Dorothy was sitting by Quatre's side, holding him close. Trowa flanked Quatre while Duo stood behind Heero, his watchful eyes observing the whole scene. Wu Fei and Mylin had entered together and stood next to Lady Une and Noin. Only Sally, Zechs and Kylie were absent. Sally, being sent to monitor the network's progress in Quatre's stead while Zechs and Kylie were involved in something none of them had bothered to mention.

Tricia Farrell-Burnet frowned at the turn out. She had called **_ALL_** Gundam pilots in for their regular medical examination, a feat she determined to turn into a routine after Heero and Quatre's collapse. But she was displeased to find Kylie and Zechs among the missing.

"Where's Miss Rayden and Mr. Merquise?" she inquired, frowning at Lady Une.

"They're at the simulation room," the young commander answered, being a person who never let anything got passed her. "Kylie's collecting Zechs' battle data so she could reconfigure the new system to suit Zechs' ability."

At that, Heero looked up. But his movement was so subtle that only Duo saw it.

"Great," the doctor muttered under her breath. She was getting more and more tired of hearing about the system, especially since it could affect the young people's life.

Suddenly, they all jumped when they heard a groan. Even Heero. The silent pilot looked down where a hand pulled at his sleeve. "Relena?" he called, softly. It was the first word he had ever said in days so his voice sounded hoarse.

"Heero?" The prone figure on the cot stirred. Without realizing it, Heero breathed a sigh of relief as something warmed inside him. Her voice sounded music to his ears.

"It's me," he confirmed, his voice so soft that the others were surprised to hear it. "Open your eyes. That's it," he encouraged, taking her hand in his. Relena opened her eyes and smiled at him. He found himself smiling back. "Welcome back, sleepyhead. You've been sleeping on the job again," he teased, reminding Relena of all the times he had caught her catching quick naps while he finished what remained to be her reports.

Relena smiled sleepily. "Sorry about that," she said, her voice squeaky and weak. She fought the lingering darkness, unaware of the others who stood around her. Her eyes were only on Heero. "I had the strangest dream. You came back from the dead and Kylie stole you away from me."

Before neither of them could register the words she had spoken, a voice broke through the moment. "Relena!" Zechs ran into the room, seeing everybody converging around his awakened sister. He rushed to her side, as Heero pulled his hand from Relena's grasp and stepped away from the little group.

By then, Relena was aware enough to remember what had transpired before her long slumber. Aware enough to realize the implications of her words to Heero… and her. And reality hit her hard, making her head and chest hurt.

"Relena?" Zechs called again, when he saw her paled. He brushed her face as she reopened her eyes. "What's wrong? Are you alright?" Concern was evident in his voice.

Relena tried to swallow the lump in her throat but weakened by her injuries, she did not have the strength to keep the tears at bay. "I'm fine," she answered, her lips trembling.

But Zechs knew that she wasn't, despite of her being awake from her coma. He couldn't figure out what had upset her until he heard a shifting pair of feet behind him. Turning around, Zechs saw Heero making his way towards the exit. His expression empty.

Duo watched all this in disgust. He watched as Relena stared forlornly after Heero, her tears unstoppable. He watched as Heero was making his way towards the door, a distinctive look of quiet pain in his eyes. Suddenly, Duo didn't feel like keeping his mouth shut anymore.

"Oh, damn you all!" he cursed, rather loudly.

Everyone in the room stared at him, surprised by his sudden use of profanity.

"Kylie did not steal Heero away from you, Relena," he told her, glaring at Heero who stiffened. "In fact, Heero is not tied to anyone."

All of them looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Relena looked especially confuse, trying to process the new information in her aching mind. "B… but Heero and Kylie," she protested, getting even more confused. "They're married..."

"They're not. It was all a lie."

Relena looked at him, doubtfully. "What are you saying?"

"They can't be married because they're twins!" Duo interrupted her.

Heero looked as if he was ready to jump on Duo. But he stopped when he saw Kylie at the door. For a moment, all eyes were on the three of them; Heero, Duo and Kylie. They were all surprised by the sudden revelation.

"So, **_that's_** the secret!" someone broke the eerie silence. They turned to Mylin, surprised to find her there. Nobody had seen her came in with Zechs a few minutes ago.

"Is this true?" Relena asked, looking at Heero, imploringly. She was both relief and hurt at the same time. Why had Heero lie to her? Why is he doing this to her?

When Heero didn't answer her, Relena looked at Kylie, who stared back at her. "Kylie?" she pleaded.

"It's true," Kylie confessed, turning around. Without another word, she wheeled herself out of the room.

Now, all eyes turned to Heero. He ignored their stares and instead, kept his eyes solely on Relena. "I'm sorry," he said, monotonously. Only Relena could see the pained regret in his eyes.

She burst into tears.

**>>>>>>**

"Kylie!" a breathless voice called out to her. Instead of stopping, Kylie chose to ignore it as she made her way back towards the hangar. "Kylie!" Quatre reached her, stopping her by standing in her way.

"What?" she asked, her eyes glaring at him.

"Is this true? Are you really Heero's twin?" he asked, panting to catch his breath.

Kylie gritted her teeth. "Do I really need to repeat myself?"

The sarcasm was lost to Quatre. "Why? Why did you lie to us? Why not tell us the truth before?" he bombarded her. _'Why are you doing this to me?'_ he wondered.

Her face darkened. "I do not have to explain anything to you. What we had is over."

"Why do you say that? Please tell me, Kylie," Quatre pleaded, accepting her harsh words. He rather had that than being ignored by her. "Why do you want **_us_** to end?"

"Because what we had was a **_mistake_**," she answered him. Quatre took a step back, looking as if he had been punched. "It was all a mistake, Quatre. I don't love you and I never did," she confessed. "I was only feeling grateful to you for saving me from myself. And I was lonely so I started looking at the only person who had ever shown me kindness."

"And that person is you," she revealed. "I used you, Quatre. Big time. I've never love you and will never love you."

"That's not true…" Quatre protested, weakly. He knew her. He had seen the love she had for him.

"It **_is_** true," Kylie stressed.

"But I love you."

"I **_don't_**. Get that into your pathetic, thick mind, Winner." She glared at him even more ferociously. "The only person I ever love in this world is **_myself_**. I only care about my hide. That's the truth." Her voice began to rise. "Hell, I could care even less about my own twin!"

"That's not true."

"It's true. I used him the same way I used you."

"Why?" Quatre asked, trying to make sense of everything she told him.

Kylie laughed, bitterly. "You should've listened to Maxwell. He was right about me. I would **_never_** associate myself with the likes of you people. You're all nothing to me."

That hurt Quatre even more than what her clone did. He stared at her in disbelief, trying to find an indication that she had, in fact, lied to him again. But this time, there were no lies in her pair of blue eyes. "Kylie, please…"

She turned away from him. "Go back to Dorothy, Winner. She at least loves you the way you deserved." With that, she left him in the hallway, emotionally drained and lost deeper in his confusion and pain. She had succeeded in doing something that her clone had failed to do.

She had broken him.

**>>>>>>**

He watched as Rayden left the shocked Winner. He still couldn't believe what he had just heard. Yuy and Rayden related. No, not just related, but twins!

Stealthily, he drew himself back into the shadows. Though the information would prove interesting to Winteridge, his sole purpose for being there was the Zero-Infinity system. And now that the spy he had hired failed to do his job, he found himself having to do it. Especially since Winteridge had been relatively demanding as late.

And since Lady Une had launched a full hunt for other possible spies, he found his job even tougher. And even more complicated now that Rayden had deleted all files on the new system from her computer. About the only way he could get the information that Winteridge wanted would be to hack into the Gundam's computer system. Which was next to impossible… Or, through the only person who store that knowledge in her mind.

Staring after the retreating girl in the wheelchair, he started to form a plan.

**>>>>>>**

Silence shrouded the room like heavy blankets. Now that everyone had left, Heero found himself alone in the infirmary with Relena, who was staring at him.

"You should rest," he said, breaking the silence, seeing the fatigue in her features.

There was only silence.

"I'm sorry," Heero said, sighing.

The words seemed to jerk her out of her thoughts. "I'm not going to accept that," she said, shaking her head. "You must have a valid reason for protecting your twin sister's secrets." She rose to her feet, standing before Heero, looking up at him.

Suddenly, she threw her arms around him. Heero was too startled to hug her back.

"Oh, Heero! I'm so glad I haven't lost you. You don't know how painful it is not having you by my side anymore."

He felt his throat constricted, swallowing a huge lump. He had expected her to explode at him, or hit him for causing her pain. So, he was totally caught off guard by her forgiveness and the look of understanding in her eyes. And by the relief that he felt as if a heavy burden was lifted off him.

'How could you've forgotten that only Relena could catch you by surprise?' he thought, tightening his hold on her.

**>>>>>>**

Kylie locked the door behind her, inhaling a deep breath. She had finally arrived to her room, to her sanctuary, where no one would witness her confusion. After what had transpired, she felt empty. There was nothing, not even regret or pity that filled her as she recalled her words to Quatre.

And that left her colder inside.

Ignoring the questioning yelp from Adin, Kylie pushed aside the thought and turned towards her workstation. She had promised Zechs that she would redesign the system to compliment his battle skills and so far, she had been quite successful.

But before she could continue with her work, she heard the unmistakable sound of the door being knocked on.

Sighing, Kylie unlocked the door, half expecting Heero there to check on her, or maybe Wu Fei, who seemed the most shocked when Maxwell revealed her secret. But it wasn't any of them at all. Instead, she found Lady Une standing uncertainly at the doorway.

"What do you want?" she demanded, knowing the answer already. Their 'talk' had been long overdue.

"I need to speak with you," the older woman answered, entering. She took in Kylie's room. Everything was neat and in place. All, except for the shattered mirror on the wall. She turned to her, drinking the sight of Treize's ward on a wheelchair.

"Kylie…" she began.

"That girl died two years ago," Kylie interrupted. She turned to the older woman. "I'm just a ghost of a forgotten past."

Then, there was a long train of silence.

Seeing that the girl wasn't willing to break the silence, Une took a deep breath. "Look, I just want to talk to you about Heero and Quatre…" Before she could finish her sentence, Kylie interrupted her again.

"How long?" she asked, looking up at her.

Lady Une's left eyebrow arched, questioningly. "Huh?"

"How long were you planning to keep what really happened from me?"

Caught off guard, Une took a step back. At first she failed to understand the meaning behind the question but one look at the cracked mirror and the look in Kylie's eyes made everything clear. It was then she realized what the girl had been referring to. A hand flew to her mouth. "You remembered! How?"

"The Zero System." The girl's eyes narrowed.

Une gasped as she took in the information. It had never occurred to her that the Zero System had a different side affect on Treize's ward. That instead of going insane and out of control like the other Gundam pilots, it had triggered a horrible memory in Kylie's mind that should've been buried forever.

"How long were you and Treize planned to keep the whole truth from me?"

"I… I'm sorry," she started, reaching for the girl. Kylie pulled away violently so she retracted her arms. "We were only trying to help. You were already about to lose your mind and Treize feared that we'll lose you for good," she explained. Her mind went back to the day when she, Treize and the doctors had watched helplessly as a little girl trashed and screamed in a hospital room.

"What gives you the right to erase my memory?"

"We had to do it," Une quickly continued, forcing the memory back. "For your sake as well as Mister Treize's," she recalled the name of the one she loved brokenly. "He was so obsessed about you."

Hearing the truth, Kylie decided to back off. Turning, she dismissed the older woman offhandedly. But instead of leaving, Lady Une stared at her, eyes wide, as realization hit her. "Oh my god! Is **_that_** why you rejected Quatre?"

Kylie spared her with a sharp look. "Leave."

Une took a step nearer, reaching out. "Kylie? Is that true?"

Kylie slapped the older woman's hands away. "That's none of your business," she told her, coldly. Then she tossed a disc at her. "I've just finished decipher it. It's all about Winteridge's base on Jupiter. Go make something useful with it."

Une looked at the disc, half thrilled at the prospect of having Winteridge's secret in her hands and the other half unwilling to leave the girl as yet. But the look in Kylie's eyes made her change her mind, for now. However, as she walked out of the door, she turned around for the last time. "Tell me, Kylie, please. Why are you doing this to him?"

The girl stiffened at the quiet inquiry. The tone in Lady Une's voice betrayed her resignation. Without turning, Kylie answered her. "In near death I was made to choose." She looked at Lady Une, letting her see a tiny speck of emotion in her eyes. "I chose vengeance and renounced love."

Lady Une gasped at her words. But before she could say anything, the door slid close and locked fast. Just like the girl on the other side.

**>>>>>>**

Quatre sank into his bed, burying his face in his hands. It had taken him all his strength just to make it to his room. How did it end like this? His shoulders shook at the unbidden tears. Kylie's words still rang in his mind. They felt like razor sharp knives which tore his heart to tiny pieces. No, not just her words. It was the look in her eyes as well. It was cold and unfeeling. And defiant! As if she was glad that she had hurt him.

'Is it true?' he questioned himself. 'Have I been so wrong about her? Had Duo been right all along?'

He moaned, feeling the poundings in his head worsened. But nothing could compare to the pain he felt in his heart. "Kylie. Why? Why are you doing this to me?" he whimpered, choking. "I love you."

Again, the unfeeling look she gave him filled his mind.

"I've been such a fool." With that, he buried his head under a pillow.

_Keep me alive inside you_

Suddenly he tensed, as the words whispered in his ear. He straightened, looking around the room to find the source. But the words did not come from the world outside. It came from inside him. His soul of outer space. At that moment, a forgotten dream came back to him.

Memories flooded in as he recalled the words the Kylie in his dreams had said to him. Bits and pieces came to him all at once. He saw her in many forms. He heard her saying many things.

Kylie as the white angel with a sword, protecting him from the shadows.

_You're not harming him as long as I'm here…_

_I'll be here always. I will protect you…_

Kylie at the park. Her words as she pleaded him to stay alive.

_I care for you too much to ignore your call…_

_I want you to enjoy everything that was denied from me…_

_You're the only one who can keep our love alive…_

_I will always be there for you. Just like old times…_

_Live and love, Quatre…_

_Keep me alive inside you…_

All these words, different and yet held only one meaning. It told him that she loved him. It doesn't matter if it was a dream or his wishful thinking. The look in Kylie's eyes in his dream mirrored the one when she was trapped in Gundam Nova as it counted its last seconds. It was the look that only belonged to someone in love.

And he recalled that day clearly.

_She stared at Quatre. After a struggle, she managed to raise her hand and touched the screen, where his face was displayed. Quatre, in turn, raised his own bloody hand to meet hers. "Thank you for teaching me how to care, Quatre. I know you don't understand why I'm doing this but know that it's because I finally learned how to care."_

_Then, her strength finally gave out. Her arm dropped limply but she held her gaze at Quatre. "I'm cold, Quatre," she whispered softly, feeling the chill creeping through her body. She no longer felt the pain. It was a distance away, just as Quatre's face suddenly was. She tried to grasp at it, to touch it again but her arms wouldn't move. "You're so far away," she mumbled, darkness swirling around her. She couldn't even see the tears on his face anymore._

_"Farewell, Quatre. You'll always be in my heart." She closed her eyes._

He jumped up. Those words alone made him doubt Kylie's recent words. He was sure now. He knew that Kylie was in love with him. He could feel it strongly. People do not bother to lie at the brink of death. Kylie could've easily said nothing if she had indeed used him.

'So, why is she rejecting him?'

Suddenly an image of her wheeling herself out of the infirmary flashed in his mind. He instantly understood. 'Could that be the reason why she rejected me?' he asked himself. 'Could it be that she didn't want to burden me with her paralyze state?'

**>>>>>>**

When Zechs, Sally and Noin entered her office, the expression on their faces was one of grim and contained excitement. Looking up from the database, which displayed Kylie's new information, Lady Une laced her fingers together. "Well?" she prompted, her left eyebrow raised questioningly.

Sally placed a folder onto her desk, nodding. "We've found one."

Her face was serious as she read through the content of the folder. It was still unbelievable to find there was more but based on her most trusted agents' reports, this one had been seen talking to the dead spy before and had been hanging around in places that he was not suppose to be.

"If we can capture him before he realizes anything, we could make him reveal the other spies, if there's any more," Noin added, her arm was still in a sling but she had volunteered to help anyway.

Lady Une nodded her approval. "Take him in. Make it discreet."

Her three agents saluted her. "Ma'am."

**>>>>>>**

He walked along the corridor, approaching the turn that would take him to his quarters. His thoughts filled with his plans to acquire the Zero-Infinity System for his employer. Playing in his mind was also the amount of money that he will get once his job was done. Yes, after he got what Winteridge wanted, he would be free. He would leave the Preventers and Winteridge to their battles and take his family far, far away.

Yes, everything seemed to be looking up.

Suddenly he stopped. A warning bell rang in his head as he spotted a couple of Preventer agents knocking on the door to his quarters. Quickly, he jumped back behind the walls, his heart pounding.

'They have discovered me,' he thought, his mind panicking. Forcing himself to calm down, he stealthily retraced his steps, the wheels in his head turning. 'Doesn't matter. Perhaps, the time has come for me to act.'

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **Have I succeeded in making everyone hate Kylie at this point? Poor Quatre but... dum… dum… dum… what could be the 'secret past' Kylie and Lady Une been talking about? And will Quatre finally discover the reason why Kylie left him? What about Dorothy? And what is the spy planning to do next? And have I scared you silly when Heero and Quatre collapsed in the middle of the story? He… he… he... Well, whatever it is, I just want to apologize AGAIN for the delay. Can't help it, really. I need to work in order to pay the bills and need to organize my life in order to keep it. Hope the chapter makes up the delay.

Oh, don't you think that the Heero-Relena part was sweet?

**Ookami Kage: **By the time you read this chapter, it does seem as if the Quatre-Kylie isn't going to happen, well, maybe. About what Duo's going to do, well, you hit a bull's-eye! Now the secret is out but it made everything even more complicated, no? Hopefully, Kylie wouldn't act on her threat and kill Hilde for it. And thank you for the encouragement. I can't simply leave this story unfinished. I have many, many plans for our boys and my muse would not leave me alone until I've done all. Oh, I've had the pleasure of watching Gundam Seed Destiny. The story is okay but the ending not-so-great. But it's a must-watch for all Kira and Athrun's fans (hope Athrun's fans won't mind him being kicked around at the earlier part of the series) I heard the series will reach the shore of USA some time early next year.

**Elizabeth: **Are you happy with how things turn out for Heero and Relena? Nope, they're not going to kiss any time soon. Be patient, Heero's definitely going to kick the enemy's butts soon. It'll just be later than you expected since I still need them.

**L.A. Une: **Thanks for the compliments. That really encouraged me to finish this chapter.

**Broken Memory: **Nope, doesn't seem like I'm going to stop any time soon. What do you think about that bit with Heero and Relena? I hope I didn't give you a heart attack when Heero collapsed and Duo dropped the 'bombshell" on everyone.

**Arina K: **Arina, shame on you. You shouldn't have such terrible wish as to have Dorothy killed! He…he… he… I guess by now you're starting to hate me for what I've done to Quatre-Kylie relationship. Blame my muse for it. She's fallen in love with Quatre and wanted to ruin his relationship with Kylie. She said, it'll be easier to steal Quatre away from Dorothy than it is from Kylie. I think she's afraid that Kylie would hunt her down to the very end of the universe.

That's all folks. Till next time.


	6. Chapter 6: Taken

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after "Survival of the Fittest", I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**SHATTERED WALLS VI: TAKEN.**

By Arayelle Lynn.

Dorothy paused at the door. She pulled her knuckle up to knock on the door, all the while fearing what she might find inside. But before she could do so, the door slid open, revealing the handsome face of her fiancé.

He looked at her, startled. She regarded him, noting his slightly rumpled appearance and red rimmed eyes. Even so, his good looks did not cease to take her breath away. "Dorothy?" he voiced, getting over his surprise.

She regained her breath, clutching the tray of food closer to her chest. "Uh… I remembered that you haven't had lunch, so…" she let the sentence went unfinished as she stared into his cerulean eyes.

His expression softened as he took note of her gesture. He took the tray but instead of returning to his room, he placed it on the floor. "It's been a long time since we had lunch together, right?" he hinted, taking her hand in his.

Dorothy started at that. Then she nodded. "The last was before you were kidnapped by the duke," she answered.

"Yeah, those days seemed so far away," said Quatre wistfully. His thoughts drifted to the moment when the only thing he could complain about was to get his work done to meet Dorothy in one of their regular lunch dates. He shook his head, offering his arm. "Well, shall we?"

Smiling at the amusement in his eyes, Dorothy linked her arm to his, letting him lead her towards the cafeteria. As they walked, they started discussing the preparation of their wedding. All thoughts of the current war and personal conflict were tucked far, far away from their mind. However, the moment didn't last long.

Dorothy sensed rather than saw Quatre stared at her as she attacked her lunch. She looked up to see his food lay before him untouched. She paused, looking at him concernedly. "Quatre?"

He broke the eye contact, staring at his hands. His face was grim, with a touch of profound regret. "I'm sorry, Dorothy."

She frowned. She hardly expected this coming from his lips, just as they were having fun for the first time since everything started. But before she could say anything, he continued. "I know that you're hurting right now. Things had been so… crazy that I've barely had time to think about us."

"Quatre…"

He reached for her hand. The one that was wearing the engagement ring. He stared at it hard, before looking at her. "I'm being a very bad boyfriend and I'm sorry for it." He paused, struggling with his words. "It's just that… I need to sort out something first. And I don't know how."

Dorothy's heart ached at the pain and confusion in his eyes. She had known that he was hurting but didn't really know to what extend. And she knew that judging by the _'conversation'_ she had with Kylie before, the girl had been everything but subtle.

"Shh…" she interrupted his next words, placing her finger on his lips. She looked at him gently. "You do not need to explain yourself, Quatre. I understand. She was your first love even though it was just a lie to her." She trailed her hand along his delicate jaw line. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"But I'm not being fair to you…"

"You got that right!" she declared, managing to receive a surprised look from him. Then her lips broke into a mischievous smile. "You hardly help out with the wedding plan. Do you expect me to choose the groom's attire as well?"

At that Quatre blushed, making Dorothy fell in love with him even more. But before she could continue, Duo Maxwell ran to their table. "There you are!" he panted, looking at Quatre and Dorothy back and fourth.

Seeing the alarmed look on his face, Quatre stood up. "What's wrong?"

Duo turned to his friend. "There's a spy in the base. Lady Une wants to see us immediately." He paused to turn to Dorothy. "She wants you to stay close to Relena." The heiress nodded in acknowledgement.

"No, wait!" said Quatre as she was about to leave. He reached for something behind him and handed her a gun. "Just in case," he said, staring at her hard.

She nodded in understanding. "Don't worry about us," she said, reading his expression well. She kissed his cheek, whispering, "I'm going to select my wedding dress the day after tomorrow. Maybe you'd like to do so while I'm at it."

He squeezed her hand. "It's a date," he agreed, then watched as she left. He turned to see Duo looking at him teasingly. "Don't say it," he warned him.

"What?"

**>>>>>>**

"He's gone!" was the grim report Lady Une received when Sally came into her office. "His quarter is cleaned. None of the personnel had seen him the whole day." She paused. "Zechs and Noin are still scouting the perimeters."

"He must've caught on our suspicion," said Trowa. He and the other Gundam pilots had just been briefed over what was transpiring. Lady Une was about to send Trowa, Duo and Wu Fei on the search as well but Sally's abrupt appearance interrupted her.

"Since Zechs and Noin are covering the surface, he could still be inside the base, hiding," Lady Une chewed her lower lips, thinking. She knew that she could trust the two Preventer couple to do their job well.

"In that case, let us try our luck," said Duo, representing his friends.

"No, wait," said Heero, stopping Duo from going to the door. "Before we go around searching aimlessly, we need to plan our move." He paused. "Let's divide ourselves to different sectors."

"Right," Quatre agreed. "Duo and Trowa, you search the quarters area while Wu Fei and Mylin'll have the main building." He turned to Heero. "Since Zechs and Noin have the grounds covered, we'll check on other possible escape routes," he said, referring to the base's lowest floor.

"Good plan," Sally approved, nodding. "I'll have my people checking into the database and see if anyone has been accessing the network. Perhaps our spy is downloading information from our computers."

"And use the database to trace his location," Lady Une finished her sentence. "Good idea," she nodded. "Go."

**>>>>>>**

He found his target in the first place he suspected she would be. Nowadays, she had become so predictable that he could read her every movement. Maybe because she was losing her touch but he preferred to claim that he was getting better in the whole espionage stuff. But whatever it was, he knew deep in his heart that she would be in the hangar.

Right now, the girl was hunching over Epyon's keyboard, installing the new system in Zechs' Gundam. Her hair tied into a ponytail, though she looked quite comfortable in her usual turtle-neck attire. He found himself shaking his head. Hangars are well known to be the stuffiest and hottest place in the base, so how come she was always wearing outfits that completely covered her body?

'How I'd love to see her in a tank top,' he wondered, drinking the sight of her beautiful features. Once he achieved his goal, he planned to have some fun with her.

'Focus!' he chastised himself, remembering that he needed to get out of the base quickly. The Preventers was getting so close in finding him so he needed to be away now! But first, he needed to get the object of Winteridge's desire. The Zero-Infinity system.

Squaring his shoulders, he casually approached his target.

**>>>>>>**

At the sound of footsteps from behind her, Kylie whipped the gun in her foot holster around. Her aim met the bewildered-looking young Preventer agent. He held up his hands. "Whoa!" he breathed as a bark echoed his surprise.

Kylie relaxed, recognizing the agent as the one who volunteered to baby sit Heero's dog. The dog had been way too bored that he had begun to interfere with Kylie's work by jumping on her and pulling at her clothes for attention. And since Heero's been busy piloting, she was the one suffering from Adin's boredom. She was only grateful when one of Une's agents decided to help her walk the dog.

"What are you doing here?" she scowled, knowing only the Gundam pilots and Howard's technicians were allowed in there.

The agent, Ryan, shrugged. "He dragged me here. One minute I was tying my shoe lace and the next his leash escaped my hand and I found myself chasing him here. I guess he misses you."

Kylie messed the dog's mane, only betraying her affection through her touch. She said nothing.

"You're looking awfully jumpy," Ryan continued, trying to prompt more conversation from the girl. Kylie realized that she was still pointing the gun at him so she quickly put it on the notebook that she had been working on. With a graceful movement, she pulled herself up onto Epyon's pilot seat again and rechecked the reconfiguration progress.

He saw a look of satisfaction on her face. "You're finally done?" he prompted, craning his neck to see the screen.

Quickly, Kylie turned to him, suspiciously. Ryan put his hands out in surrender. "Alright, so it's a top secret stuff," he said, flashing her his famous devil-may-care smile. "But you're certainly looking very tense, you know."

Kylie sighed. She was getting tired of his attempt at flirting. "Get out of here, agent," she said, letting the threat seeped a little in her tone.

"Alright, alright, I'm going," he said, tugging the dog along with him. "Let's go raid the galley, Adin. Maybe they'll have some good stuff to eat." He waved good bye at her but she was already lost in her own work. Disappointed, he walked passed a technician who was returning from lunch, banging his knee on the toolbox that the technician was carrying.

He muttered his sorry as the technician threw him a sympathetic look. Obviously, he had heard his entire failed flirtation. "Sorry, mate," the technician said as he made his way towards his work station. Ryan scowled at him.

Kylie heard the entire exchange clearly, while lying under Epyon's control board. Her hands worked expertly as she reconnected the wires to the circuits. Her work was almost done and once the reconfiguration was complete, Zechs would be able to use the new system as well.

When she heard a beep, she rose from the floor. Pulling the screen so it faced her, she nodded in satisfactorily. "Reconfiguration complete," she said to herself, echoing the words on the screen. She then started to screw the panel close, having done reconnecting the wires.

By then, the hangar was quiet. Kylie found herself relishing the silence once again. Now that the work was done, she began planning her next move. 'Find out more about the clones, of course,' she thought to herself, recalling her unfinished project. Her eyebrow burrowed at the thought. She had found that there were some files missing from Dr. Randells' folders. She didn't know if it was intentional or if the files were lost during the transfer. And also, she needed to find out who had been training the clones. As intelligent as Winteridge was at tactics and strategies, he didn't have enough experience to train soldiers. Especially to the point of perfection. No, there must be someone else working in the background. Someone who knew how to turn innocent children into heartless killing machine.

Her train of thoughts halted when suddenly the silence triggered the warning bells in her head. The hangar was too quiet. Hadn't the…

She never got to finish her thoughts. A sharp pain pricked her neck, just above her shoulder as she whirled around. Her eyes met the technician's, seeing his malicious smile. "You…" she said, surprised to find her words slurring. Her head began to swim. "What?" she gasped then saw the empty syringe in his hand.

'No!' she thought, crawling away, her numb hands reaching for the gun which she had placed on the floor. It seemed like it was so far away but she managed to grab it. "Oh no, you don't!" said the technician as she swung the gun around. Something hit Kylie across the face and the darkness claimed her.

**>>>>>>**

He threw the toolbox aside. He had been caught by surprise when the girl aimed the gun at him. Luckily, he still had the toolbox nearby. Crouching, he checked her pulse, hoping that he hadn't hit her that hard. At the same time, he marveled at her resistance to the drug. 'Truly a Gundam pilot,' he thought.

Then his eyes wondered around the hangar, checking to see if there was anyone there. Satisfied that the coast was clear, he hefted the girl onto his shoulder. Before he walked away, he looked back at Gundam Epyon, thinking if he should made his escape with it. Winteridge would be very pleased to have one extra Gundam, compete with the new system, in his hands.

'No,' he shook his head. He recalled that the Gundams were usually password-locked by the pilots. He would never get it started. And besides, it would draw more attention.

Adjusting the precious cargo on his shoulder, he made his way out.

**>>>>>>**

"No go, Quat," said Duo through the comm. "Trowa and I searched everywhere, though we did find a radio transmitter in a secret panel in his room."

"Then, report back to Lady Une. She would be very interested in the radio," said Quatre. "Wu Fei? Mylin?"

"He's not here. Not even in the control room or the hangar," Wu Fei reported. "You?"

"We're in one of the secret tunnels now," he answered, jumping when a rat scurried passed him. He sighed, throwing Heero an embarrass smile. "But no one had been here before. I had suggested Sally to post some guards here since the spy hadn't come this way."

"Right, in that case, we'll head there."

"What's that, Mylin?" Quatre prompted when he heard a muffled sound from the radio.

"I just said we're wasting our time here," she repeated.

"Look, no one asks you to join us, remember?" Duo's irritated voice came in.

"Spoken like a true fool, Maxwell." Then she quickly interrupted Duo's angry retort. "What I'm saying is that we should figure out what in this base would the spy take with him when he rejoin Winteridge?"

"Well, duh! It doesn't take a genius to figure that out," said Duo. "Of course, our strategies and secret plans. I wouldn't even be surprised if he already has the locations of the secret network we established in the colonies."

"That's true," Mylin acknowledged. "But what is the more precious information than that? Secret plans and strategies Winteridge could do without. He's been quite acute at countering our every move. No, what I'm talking about is the information that Winteridge cannot afford to **_not_** have."

A warning bell rang in Heero's head. He grabbed Quatre's comm. "What are you getting at, Mylin?"

"**_Your_** Gundams."

Quatre looked at Heero as he tightened his hold on the comm. "The Zero-Infinity system!"

"Kylie!" Without another word, Quatre sprinted back.

**>>>>>>**

He waited as the sound of running footsteps faded. The underground base was bursting with Preventer agents, on a search for the spy, which was him. But he wasn't worried. He had already planned his escape very well. There was a small plane waiting for him in a hangar on the surface. Oh yes, of course Lady Une would've had every hangar in the base well-guarded but there was one she had overlooked. A small hangar at the back side of the base which was closed for maintenance. He had taken that to his advantage and stored his getaway there.

Once he was certain that the cost was clear, he stepped out of the room. This time, he had discarded his borrowed technician coverall and wore a white coverall, compliment from the man tied up nicely back in the room. To compliment his new role, he pushed a cart, where his precious cargo was in.

As he was moving, he pulled down his cap over his eyes and glanced back at the photo that he was holding. It was a picture of a woman and a little girl. He kissed it. "Be patient, my ladies. Daddy's coming home and he's coming back with big bucks," he whispered, for a moment thinking of his wife and daughter living happily in an apartment on Mars.

Tucking the photo away, he began his journey.

**>>>>>>**

Quatre looked around him, desperately. It had been two hours since they had found Kylie missing and still they could not find any sign of her or the spy. Ryan, an agent, reported that he had left her in the hangar but when they got there she was gone. So was the technician that Ryan had mentioned. When Lady Une received the news, she had ordered a full blown search party both inside and outside the base's grounds.

"This is useless!" Wu Fei slammed his fist on the wall. "They could be anywhere."

"We have to try," Quatre heard Duo said. He ignored the agents that ran along the corridor, who nearly collided with a laundry man. "We can't let the system fall into evil hands."

"The Preventers have all escape routes covered and the people in the command center haven't reported any unauthorized launch," said Trowa, his calming nature unfazed by the emergency. "So they must still be in the base. We'll just have to find them."

Quatre bit back an angry scowl. But before he could say anything, a voice interrupted him. "That man, he's going the wrong way," said Mylin, her eyes watching the retreating back of a man in white coverall.

"That's only the laundry man," Duo dismissed her off-handedly. "Today's laundry day, remember?"

"He's still going the wrong way," Mylin repeated, frowning. By then, the other pilots were all looking at him. It was then they realized that the man was heading **_away_** from the quarters.

"Hey, you!" Trowa suddenly shouted, sprinting towards the man. Instead of stopping, the man bolted, pushing the cart vigorously. "Stop!" Trowa warned, drawing his gun. Behind him, the others followed in suit.

"Stop him! He's the spy!" Duo shouted at the two agents guarding the other end of the hallway. Seeing that he was surrounded, the man suddenly grabbed the white bed sheet in his cart and flung it over the agents, trapping them. Then, he grabbed something from the cart. No, it was **_someone_**!

"Hold it right there!" the man ordered, pushing a gun against Kylie's exposed throat. Duo and the others quickly halted. Heero quickly ran a check on his twin sister. She was unconscious, probably drugged but when a moan escaped her lips, he noted that she was slowly coming to consciousness.

"Ah, ah!" the spy warned, tightening his hold so strong that Kylie let out an involuntary cry. But it was enough to jar her from unconsciousness.

"Alright, I'm putting down my gun," said Trowa, signaling the others to do so. He knew that the spy would kill Kylie if he was forced to.

The spy nodded. "Good," he said, inching backward, dragging Kylie with him. "Don't anyone follow us or I'll kill her."

Suddenly, he caught a movement to his left. Before any of them could cry out a warning, an agent sprang out from his hiding place. There was a gunshot and the agent fell, blood pooling the floor. "No heroics!" the spy warned, whipping his gun back at the Gundam pilots. "Especially from you."

Heero and the others watched helplessly as the spy dragged Kylie into another hallway. Once they disappeared, the Gundam pilots quickly got into action. It wasn't until the sound of a metal clattering on the floor gave off a mental warning.

"Get down!" Heero cried, pushing Quatre onto the floor as an explosion hit them.

**>>>>>>**

When the whole underground headquarters shook, Lady Une was taken completely by surprise. Luckily, the base was a former nuclear shelter and was built to withstand big explosions coming from outside and inside the base itself. However, she was sure that the blast was powerful enough to rattle a few windows in the main building up on the surface.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded as Agent Grant picked himself from the floor.

"There was an explosion in the third floor, near the officer's quarters," an agent answered, assessing the damages.

Lady Une frowned. The last time the Gundam pilots checked in, they had been in that area! Could it be…?

"Grant," she ordered. "Take your men and check the area. Weapons ready." Grant nodded and five agents left with him. Lady Une leaned over a console, blowing a deep breath. Inside, she cursed the day she had ever heard the name of a certain duke.

**>>>>>>**

Duo coughed as someone lifted the heavy debris off him. Then that someone propped him up, assessing the bleeding cut on his thigh. "It's not that serious," said that someone he later identified as Mylin. "You'll live but will be out of action for many days."

Duo bit back a retort as he scanned the cloudy hallway for signs of his friend. Wu Fei was bending over the agent who was shot, staunching a gaping hole in his chest while Trowa was checking on the rest of the wounded agents. Heero and Quatre were nowhere to be found.

"Where's Heero and Quatre?" he rasped then gasped when pain shot up his chest. He eyed a block of fallen debris not far away.

Trowa's eyes followed his and he shook his head. "They're okay. They went ahead to catch the spy."

"Then go!" said Duo, sweat was beginning to show on his forehead. Mylin frowned in concern. "Go after them, Trowa. The spy is dangerous. They will need back up."

Trowa nodded. "Roger that." Then he ran, with Duo and Mylin watching him.

**>>>>>>**

Clarkson dragged his hostage mercilessly. Under normal circumstances, he would've preferred his hostage to be able to walk. But this particular hostage was not normal. And he was thankful that her paralysis enabled her to offer much resistance.

He glanced back over his shoulder. Sure enough, no one was coming after him. He smiled in satisfaction, knowing the hand grenade that he had thrown had provided him enough distraction to get away safely from the base.

"Won't be long now," he whispered to the girl, his arm tightening his hold on her throat, cutting off some of the air to her lungs. She choked, digging her fingernails in his arm but it was futile.

Then he saw it. The door to the old hangar where he had hid his plane. Beyond that he could make out the catwalk that led to the entrance of the plane. Quickening his pace, he dragged his hostage even more roughly.

As he was entering the hangar, he suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of running footsteps. Glancing behind, he cursed. "Damn! What does it take to stop these guys?" He aimed his weapon and fired. The two Gundam pilots dove aside, narrowly missing the hail of bullets.

Quickly, he scrambled along the catwalk, firing shots after shots at the two pilots. But still they kept coming. Fortunately for him as the pilots were nearing the hangar, the heavy door slid close, cutting them off. The pilots banged furiously at the door, one shooting at it while the other stared at the little peephole on the door. There was a look of pure horror in his blue-green eyes.

Clarkson almost jumped in glee. But he settled with a mocking salute at his two desperate pursuers. He was one step ahead into fulfilling his last mission and he could now imagine the faces of his wife and daughter greeting him at home.

That's when he realized his mistake. While he had been busy with the two young men, he had totally forgotten about his hostage.

**>>>>>>**

Kylie smashed her head against Clarkson's face, smiling satisfactorily at the sound of a sickening crunch his nose made with the contact. Crying in pain, Clarkson was forced to release her and she fell onto the floor in a heap. Cursing her, Clarkson whipped his gun at her, squeezing the trigger. Instead of the loud pop made by exploding bullets, he only heard the sound of empty clicking.

Expecting the empty round, Kylie raised her body by her arms and swung her useless limbs in an arc. Her feet connected heavily against Clarkson's legs, tripping him. Recovering quickly, Clarkson twisted his falling body to land on top of Kylie. Gritting his teeth, he backhanded her and grabbed her exposed throat, choking the life out of her.

Instead of letting herself fell in her weakening state, Kylie drew back a fist and smashed his broken nose again. Clarkson howled, staggering backward against the railing, holding his bleeding nose. Not wasting anytime, Kylie quickly launched herself against the spy, pushing him up and over the railing. Feeling himself dropping into a thirty foot drop, Clarkson quickly grabbed the edge of the runway. His deadly descent halted as his body hung perilously.

He looked up to meet the face of his hostage, now his only savior. There was a strange look in her eyes. "Help me!" he cried, struggling to maintain his hold.

"Please, help me," he choked, feeling his fingers slipping.

She looked down at him, unfeelingly.

His fingers slipped some more. He fought to regain his hold.

"Please, I have a wife and a kid," he begged, tears were starting to trail down his cheek. He recalled the faces of his wife and little daughter once more. "I'm doing this so I could feed my family."

Still, she didn't move a muscle. Instead, her eyes narrowed coldly.

One of his hands slipped, leaving him dangling with one hand. He started to sob.

"Please, my daughter's only five."

Kylie's eyes remained cold and hard, like a goddess of death. But her response sealed his fate forever. "And somehow, I could not find enough heart to care," she said, turning away.

Clarkson's last sight was the pair of merciless winter blue eyes as his fingers slipped completely. His screamed died just as his body hit the bottom with a sickening crunch.

**>>>>>>**

"No!" Quatre cried, seeing Kylie turned away from her helpless kidnapper. It was then the door hissed open and he heard the sound of running footsteps coming from behind him. Ignoring them, he made his way to the spot where the spy disappeared to.

He had to close his eyes when they met one of the most gruesome sights he had ever seen.

"What happened? Why didn't you help him? We could've made him answer a few questions about the enemy," he heard Duo asked. Obviously, he, Wu Fei and Mylin had secured their last location and had come to assist Heero and him.

Instead of answering, Kylie propped herself up even more, ignoring Duo's remarks. She also ignored Heero's outstretched hands to carry her up. But the stress had been too much for her and the residue of the drug was finally taking its toll. Quatre turned around only see her slumped on the metal floor, unconscious.

**>>>>>>**

"Aside from the drug and some cuts and bruises, she's fine," said Tricia Farrell, slipping the stethoscope back on her shoulders. "Though I'm keeping her here overnight for an observation. She might be suffering from a mild concussion when she woke up."

She turned to Duo, nicely bandaged and lying on the bed. "And I'd like to keep you too, Maxwell. I don't like to hear that cough of yours. I think you've inhaled quite a huge amount of dusts." She felt his forehead. "And will be suffering from fever throughout the night, judging from your temperature."

Duo mumbled something incoherent as his eyes drooped even lower. He didn't really care what happen now. All he wanted was to be able to settle in the nice, cozy, darkness.

The others watched as Duo slept. "However, I do have one good news," said the doctor, breaking the silence. This time, she looked at Relena who was sitting on a nearby bed. "You're fit enough to leave the infirmary tomorrow, Relena." She smiled when the young woman brightened. "But you're confined in your allocated quarters until such time when I declare otherwise."

So happy she was, Relena seemed almost grateful for the confinement. Staying in the infirmary had been a very dull experience in which she was determined not to duplicate anytime soon. Her only console was having Dorothy to accompany her and discuss politics. She knew that the golden haired girl had been sent to the infirmary to safe guard Relena, just when the news came about a double agent on the loose. But Relena never minded a little security. She knew that her line of work demanded her of that.

"Great, so what do we do next?" asked Dorothy, her eyes never left Quatre who was watching Kylie silently.

Lady Une turned to regard the whole team. "We're going to attack Jupiter. Again."

**>>>>>>**

She heard the little girl cry. She was about five or six years old. Her clothes were worn and dirty. A prone body lay before her, over a growing pool of blood. His eyes were open and lifeless. His chest was still since his last breath had already escaped his lips a long time ago. In his slackened hands, there was a broken dagger.

She reached out her hand to touch the girl. She knew who this was. She knew exactly what had happen and what will happen next. And she wished to stop it from happening again.

There was a scuffling sound coming from the darkness. Both she and the girl turned towards the sound but only seeing a closed door. Obviously, the sound had come from something behind the door. And it sounded like a set of feet pacing on the floor.

She trembled. She tried to reach out to the little girl. But it was to no avail. She watched helplessly as the girl picked up the broken blade and walked over to the door. The look in her eyes was nothing but determination.

"No!" she found herself shouting, pleading. She tried to move her heavy legs but somehow, she felt as if they were rooted to the ground. No, she was only meant to see this happen, not stop it.

"Please, don't!" she pleaded, still trying to change past. But it was already in motion. The little girl turned the knob and the door swung open.

It was then her legs were freed. Quickly she scrambled towards the girl. But as she was about to touch her, the door slammed close. Then, she heard the sound of a bloodcurdling scream. Only she didn't realized that it was her!

Suddenly, the scene changed. She was standing in a grey meadow, overlooking a setting grey sun. A girl was there, talking to another girl, a perfect mirror image of herself. In fact, the two girls looked exactly like her!

She knew what was happening. She knew exactly what they were talking about.

"You still have a choice, you know," said the girl. "We both know it's not yet your time to go. Your past haunts you too strongly for you to ignore."

"There's no choice in that," said the other girl. "I will have what I want."

The girl shook her head. "But at this moment, your heart is craving for two different things. Both of which you can't have without letting go of the other."

The other girl frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I'm you," said the girl, in a way of an explanation. "So now, you must make your choice. Which is the one your heart most desired? Choose wisely because one could lead you to ruin and the other could lead you to many pains."

"What are the choices you're speaking of?"

"You know. It's in your heart."

The other girl hesitated. Then, she looked at the setting sun, a forlorn look on her face. "Love or vengeance?"

The girl nodded.

The other girl looked at her hands, clenching them into fists. She seemed to be recalling something. "There was never a doubt in my choices," she said, her eyes flashed dangerously. "I've always known it deep in my heart.'

There was a sad look on the girl's face, as if she already knew. "What is your choice?" she asked, quietly.

"I choose vengeance and renounce love."

The girl shook her head. "May you find your peace." She paused. "When you're lost remember this, you're not him, Kylie. You're not a monster."

Her vision swam again. The image of the two girls and the grey meadow disintegrated, only to be replaced by the beautiful sight of a garden. And a man talking to yet another mirror image of her.

"You're not ready," he was saying. "You have yet learned the most important lesson of all."

"What's that, father?"

The man trailed the rose in his hand along her delicate feature. He smiled, before turning serious. "This is by far the most important lesson of all," he said, looking into the girl's eyes. "For you to learn the first lesson, you must first learn mercy."

"You're not a monster if you could learn mercy, Little Fire."

Suddenly, the man's eyes widened as his body jerked. The man, the girl and she looked down only to find a tip of a blade that had went through his heart. Blood was already soaking his blue uniform as his eyes rolled and he fell to the ground.

She and the girl were too stunned to catch the man they had come to love as their father.

"No!" she screamed, the fog in her mind suddenly dissipated. She ran to his side, gathering him in her arms. She glared up at the towering figure that stood behind the man; the weapon in the hand betrayed the villain.

She gasped when she saw who it was. It was her!

"Show's over, Rayden. You lose," her mirror image was saying. No, not her mirror image. Her clone!

"Say bye to Winner boy," said the clone, raising the blade. Before she could register what the clone was up to, she plunged the bloody blade into Treize. Only when Kylie looked down, he wasn't Treize. Shocked, her eyes met Quatre's lifeless ones.

"NO!"

**>>>>>>**

"No!" Kylie bolted out of bed. Her chest heaving for air as her heart beat went wild. Sweat drenched her as her mind recalled the terrible vision in her dreams. Still trapped in her nightmare, she didn't even notice someone jumped to her side and held her shaking body.

"Shh…! Shh…! It's alright. It's only a nightmare," said Quatre Winner, soothingly. He felt her jerked when he held her, knowing she was still in shock. "It's alright, Kylie. I'm here." He ran his hand along her hair, comforting her.

Kylie went slack in his arms, finally breathing normally. The trembling in her body eased a little as she sank into his arms. He continued whispering words of comfort to her. Neither remembered their current complication.

Not for long. Before Quatre could offer Kylie something to drink, she shoved herself away from him. Her eyes cold and unfeeling. A far cry from the distraught girl just a moment earlier. "Stay away!" she warned, dangerously.

Thinking that she was still in shock, Quatre put up his hands. "Kylie! It's only me. It's okay, the nightmare is over," he said, gently.

Kylie's eyes narrowed. "Just stay away from me, Winner," she repeated, her eyes searching the room. They landed on Duo who was sleeping peacefully on the bed next to hers and the five Preventer agents. 'I'm in sickbay!' she realized as the memory came back to her.

"Are you alright?" Quatre asked, handing her a glass of water.

She chose to ignore it. Instead, when her eyes spotted the wheelchair next to her bed, she began to reach for it.

"Kylie!" he placed the glass on the table and came around the bed to stop her. "What are you doing? You can't leave now."

Ignoring her protesting body, she gently lowered herself on the wheelchair. "And who's going to stop me?" she snapped at him, her eyes seeing double. She glared at him, furiously willing her eyes to focus. "I mean it, Winner. Stay away from me!"

He was about to say something when suddenly Duo moaned. Quatre ran to his friend's side, checking his fevered forehead before turning back to Kylie. But the girl was already gone.

"Hey," he greeted Duo when his eyes fluttered open. His friend looked at him in confusion before the light of understanding flashed in his watery eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Lousy," he rasped, coughing. Quatre held a glass of water for him. "How long have I been out?" he asked, as soon as the water soothed his dry throat.

"The whole night and this morning," was the answer.

Duo moaned. "Man, I feel so lousy," he complained, massaging his throbbing head.

Quatre looked at his friend, sympathetically. He was a little relieved to find the worst was over. No one except him and Dr. Tricia had known how bad Duo fared the other night. His fever had been so bad that the doctor and he had taken shifts to care for the sick. Luckily, Sally was there to help them.

"Dr. Tricia would be around soon," he told him gently. "She'll give something for the headache."

"Great." Then, Duo's eyes trailed to the bed next to his. "Where's the Ice Queen?" he asked, using the nickname he gave Kylie a long time ago.

Quatre's eyes strayed to the bed, worriedly. "She left. Dr. Tricia wouldn't be pleased to hear this."

Duo snorted, moaning as another wave of headache hit him.

"Perhaps I should get her back."

"No!" Duo protested, grabbing Quatre's hand in time. "Stay away from her, Quat. She's bad news."

He sighed, exasperatedly. Quatre knew all too well about Duo's dislike of Kylie.

"Listen to me, Quatre. You've got to forget her," he advised. "Stay away from her. She'll only get you into trouble."

"Duo…"

"No, listen to me," Duo grasped his hand. "She isn't the same person we met, Quat. There's something about her that is off. I don't know what but I could tell that she will get you into trouble… or worse yet, killed!"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me… yup I turned 20-something today. Just thought that I should reward my fellow, loyal fans with a new chapter. I really, really hope you enjoy the ride. It was a tense one for me.

**Ookami Kage: **Yeah, I found myself saddened for Kylie too. It's like the more she tried to push Quatre away, the more her weaknesses are revealed. Only, we don't know where this will lead. Maybe they'll get back together or maybe not. I don't know. My muse hasn't revealed it to me yet.

About Destiny, yeah, I agree with you. I seriously think that the ending needs more work. I totally disagree on how they turned Shinn as the bad guy in his own show! I had thought that he would come around sometime nearing the end. So I was disappointed when he didn't. But one thing I love about Destiny is that we're finally get to see more of Athrun in action even though he was being kicked around in the early part of the series.

**L.A. Une: **He… he… well, wait no longer. Feast on this!

**Surv: **Thanks for the compliment. Glad to know you like it!

**Arina K: **Hmm… light New York City for a year! I wouldn't go that far. I think my stories need some more work to be considered THAT good. Anyway, thanks for your support and belief in Quatre-Kylie relationship. I hadn't thought anyone would accept her as Quatre's pair because she is an OC.

Just would like to wish all my Chinese readers a Happy Chinese New Year!


	7. Chapter 7: Stolen

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**NOTE:** To avoid confusion, I have **_italic-and-bold_** the clones' name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who's who.

**SHATTERED WALLS VII: STOLEN. **

By Arayelle Lynn.

Dorothy stepped into the infirmary. Her crystal blue eyes searched the room, noting the sleeping Duo Maxwell and the other injured Preventers. However, her eyes never met the object of her search as they landed on the woman in a white lab coat.

"Looking for Quatre?" the woman said, straightening herself from where she had been hunching over a database. A medical report was displayed on its screen.

She nodded. "He was supposed to meet me for lunch but never showed up. Thought that things got worse and you need him here."

Dr. Farrell-Burnet shook her head. "No, things are going well at the moment," she answered. "Actually, I had just relieved Quatre of his watch not long ago. But I don't think I know where he had gone to."

"I think I know," said Dorothy suddenly. Her eyes were on the empty bed where a certain someone was supposed to be lying on. She turned her eyes back to the doctor. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem."

**>>>>>**

He watched her. The words of many played constantly in his mind. They were the words of his ever concern friend, the words of his lost love and the words of the one he had pledged his love to. But of all, he found himself listening to only one. The one in his heart, which was why he came to be there.

As usual, he found her in the gym, working on her useless limbs as it had been prescribed for her. The therapy was to keep the blood flowing throughout her body as much as it is to give her a hope that she could once again walk. But the strange determination on her sweat-streaked face betrayed not her hope. Instead, he could see that her eyes were glaring at the other side of the rail, where her destination was, as if her enemy was there waiting.

Her hand slipped from the handle bar. His feet jolted in a movement to break her fall just as she regained her hold. He stopped himself in time. He watched as she resumed her exercise, the warning lost in his lips. She was going way too fast! And her hands were too sweaty to keep her hold! But he couldn't warn her of that. He had sworn himself to be an observer, to note if there was any change in the girl's reaction after their _'encounter'._

There was. Though he hardly knew whether it was good or bad. He couldn't decide if the frown on her forehead or her clenching teeth expressed her displeasure or profound regret over what had happened. In fact, her need to drag her useless limb in this exercise so soon after her recovery confused him.

She's going too fast! His mind screamed his warning, noting how her hands expertly navigated her body along the support beams. It was as if she was trying to break an Olympic record! He jolted forward again, the warning just waiting to be released from his lips. But he stopped himself again, reminding himself that he had sworn to respect her wishes. That he was not to interfere with her life anymore.

She slipped again. This time, her hands were too clumsy to maintain her grip. He gasped when she banged her head on the handlebar and fell to the floor. Cursing himself, Quatre dashed forward.

**>>>>>**

Kylie felt hands catching her just as she was hitting the floor. Her head swam as she felt a pair of arms holding her upright, lowering her gently. Once her vision cleared, she turned to her rescuer, knowing him for being there when she had her usual therapy. "Heero…" she began, inserting her irritation in her voice.

But instead of meeting Prussian blue eyes, her eyes met Cerulean blue ones, looking at her with deep concern. Surprised, she pushed herself away from the embrace.

"Kylie!" Quatre cried out, catching her again as she almost fell to the floor. But her struggles managed to send both of them to the floor.

"I don't need your help!" she declared, slapping his hands off her. Then she pulled herself away from him, tucking her dead limbs in her arms. "Leave!"

But he found that couldn't. Not when the closeness of their bodies had brought back the emotions that had reigned inside him at one time in a distant past. Looking at her, he forced the feelings back. "But I want to help you, Kylie. Why won't you let me help you?"

Instead of succumbing into his pleading eyes, she glared at him rather defiantly. "Leave, Quatre! I don't need you or your sympathy."

"Kylie," he tried again.

She glared at him menacingly. "I won't hesitate to hurt you, Quatre. Trust my word," she said, there was a threatening note in her voice that he had never heard before. "LEAVE!"

"But…"

A shot rang. Quatre flinched as something grazed his cheek. Shocked, he stared at the twin barrel of a gun that Kylie had trained on him. "I said leave," her voice was colder this time.

He stared at her, past the smoking gun, hoping to see a sign that she might want him to stay, that maybe she had feelings for him, however faint it was. But there was none. Her eyes continued to glare at him as if he was a mere irritation. A thorn in her side.

Swallowing his wounded heart, Quatre stammered an apology and ran out of the room.

**>>>>>**

Dorothy ran. Her chest burned and her heart felt as if it was crushing. Her legs felt like rubber, pleading her to stop her mad dash. But she couldn't stop. She didn't want to stop.

A sob escaped her lips but she silenced it by clamping her hand on her mouth. She ignored the stares as she made her way past the hallways, all the while aware that she failed to stop the tears from streaming down her cheek.

She had seen everything! As soon as she had left the infirmary, she had continued to look for Quatre, only to find him in the gym, watching Kylie. She had seen how he ran to Kylie when she fell. The utter fear in his eyes was apparent. She had seen how Kylie pushed him away, threatening to shoot him if he continued to approach her. The look of pain on Quatre's face was enough to break her heart!

But that wasn't what upset her so. No, she knew that Quatre was still in love with Kylie. That was obvious. And she understood the need for Quatre to plead Kylie to return his feelings. If that was going to help Quatre sort out his feelings, that was fine with Dorothy, no matter how painful it felt.

But what upset her was the scene she saw later, after Quatre had left the gym. Her mind kept on playing the scene where Kylie threw the gun to the wall, growling in frustration. Then she started to pound the floor with her fists, all the while her eyes betrayed the inner turmoil that she had been keeping within. Her cold façade finally crumbled as she let her anguish overwhelmed her. All of these told Dorothy one thing.

Kylie Rayden was still in love with Quatre Winner!

The betrayal hit her hard. Dorothy had worked long and hard to make Quatre fell in love with her. She kept faith in his love, knowing how their love would always be shadowed by Quatre and Kylie's unfulfilled love. When the girl was found alive, Dorothy had fought against all odds to keep her relationship with Quatre so that their engagement would result to something priceless. And all the while, she was led to believe that Kylie had been using Quatre, that she had never any feelings for him, that it was all a mistake in both of their parts. And Dorothy used that _truth_ to allow Quatre to question his feelings by going to the other girl.

But now, it was all a lie. Once again, Kylie Rayden had managed to elude the truth from all of them, playing with their minds and hearts. And realizing this, Dorothy realized that she could never have Quatre the way she wanted him.

Fiery emotions reigned over her sorrow at the thought of the betrayal. Now, she wished that she had never met the Gundam pilots. Now, she wished that Kylie Rayden had never existed!

Choking on her sobs, Dorothy ran into the pouring rain.

**>>>>>**

Lady Une stared at the screen, reviewing the information that Kylie had handed her about the settlement on Jupiter. Her fingers were tapping unconsciously on the desk as she read. Her lips set in a grim determination though the light in her eyes betrayed her excitement.

Suddenly, the door to her office slid open. She looked up and greeted her most trusted advisor, Sally Po.

"You rang?' said the Chinese agent, looking at her questioningly.

She rose from her seat. "Gather all Code 1 personnel. We have a job to do."

Sally eyebrow raised, impressed. But she knew better than to question for more information. However, before she could turn around to find the people her superior officer had mentioned, she heard her continue.

"We're going to attack Jupiter."

**>>>>>**

She barely knew how long she had been wandering. The rain continued to pour, soaking her to the bones. But she hardly felt the cold. Her mind was in turmoil, tortured still by the incident that she had just witnessed only moments ago. Her feet carried her body aimlessly, away from the pain and the harsh reality. But that was alright. She needed the distance. She needed the chance to be lost in her own thoughts. Away from them. From him.

And her.

Now that the secrets were all out, she didn't know what to do. For the first time in her life, Dorothy felt as if she had lost all meaning of life. She found herself feeling strangely drained and tired, as if loving Quatre had cost her more than just time and heartache. It felt strangely similar to the aftereffects of using the Zero System some time ago.

But she knew that that wasn't the reason. There was one name she could think of that was responsible for the strange emptiness in her heart.

Kylie.

Her heart started to bleed again.

Suddenly she stopped. There standing before her, soaking wet in the rain was Trowa. There was a lost look in his eyes. "Dorothy?" he voiced, startled to find her there. He looked at her uncertainly.

Unable to control her feelings anymore, Dorothy sobbed. Her knees gave way as she slumped to the ground. Trowa caught her in time. Wordlessly, he gathered her in his arms and held her as she cried. His own confusion was lost as he comforted the weeping girl.

**>>>>>**

Lady Une regarded the people in the room carefully. In less than fifteen minutes, Sally had managed to gather all 'Code 1 personnel', meaning the Gundam pilots, Noin, Zechs, Sally and herself. The secret code was necessary because, although she was satisfied enough to learn that all spies had been flushed out, experience told her to be more caution. And whatever that she was going to tell these people demand that caution for it would determine the fate of all things.

They all met her gaze evenly, each waiting patiently for her to start.

She cleared her throat. "A few days ago, Kylie had given me a disc containing all information on Jupiter. The blueprints, the security system even waste disposal timetable." Silently, she felt a pang of regret as she recalled her ward's refusal to attend the meeting.

"You mean everything?" Duo blinked, being injured made it a little slow for him to digest anything. But he was impatient enough to get back onto his feet.

"Yes," said Lady Une, as she leaned forward. Her eyes regarded them conspiratorially. "Now, our only job is to plan our attack." She nodded, seeing their startled faces. "This is our chance to end this war."

**>>>>>**

"They're up to something," said **_Kylie-clone_**, pacing back and forth. "They're being way too quiet."

"My dear, sit down before you wear the carpet out," Winteridge gently scolded, leaning in his seat calmly. But his eyes seemed to be watching the clones carefully.

It had been days since the attack on Vice Minister Darlian. And the clones were all restless. But their employer had wanted to see what their enemy was planning to do, even if it meant waiting for an attack. So, the clones had no choice but to make themselves comfortable.

But the waiting was more than torture.

"Why can't we just go and destroy something? A colony, perhaps?" asked **_Wu Fei-clone_**, resuming **_Kylie's_** impatient pace. "Why don't we destroy our enemy now? It'll be an easy kill."

"Not so easy now since they have the new system," Instructor D reminded them. "No, what we need to do now is wait for their next move." He bit his lips, frowning as he walked towards the window, overseeing a newly built complex on Jupiter. "**_Kylie's_** right. They _are_ up to something. But instead of reacting to it, we must wait it out and prepare ourselves for it." He turned to Winteridge. "Isn't that so, Your Grace?"

Winteridge nodded. "You read my mind well, old friend." Then he turned to the clones. "If it makes you all feel any better, you may prep the troop for an incoming battle. Make any necessary preparations just in case.'

The clones snapped to their feet, saluting him. "Roger," they chorused, before retreating.

Instructor D watched as they left. There was a little crease on his forehead.

"You see it too, huh?" Winteridge suddenly said, rising up from his seat. His friend turned to him, slightly surprise.

"What the late doctor said, it's finally showing," the duke continued, looking out the window. "The signs of deterioration."

"What do we do about it?"

He shrugged. "There's nothing we _can_ do about it. There was never a scientist as talented as Doctor Randells." He shook his head. "No, there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do now is to set our plans in motion sooner rather than later."

Instructor D raised his left eyebrow. "You have a plan?"

"No, rather an opportunity," the duke responded, his eyes gleaming with a new thought. "And if I'm correct, whatever the Preventers are planning soon will put our plan perfectly in motion." He glanced at his old friend. "All we need to do is wait until our spy inform us when."

His friend nodded, understanding his train of thoughts. "In the meantime?"

Winteridge sighed. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Tell the clones of the deterioration. They have the right to know about it."

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

**>>>>>**

When she first opened her eyes, Dorothy didn't know where she was. Once sleep released its grip on her, she bolted from the bed, eyeing the room suspiciously. She was in a small room, empty except for a chair that stood next to the door. There was no one in the room.

Gingerly, she swung her feet off the bed. Her fingers trailed from her tangled blond locks down to her aching arm, where she discovered something strange. Looking down, she noticed that she was wearing clothes that were not her own.

Instantly, Dorothy realized where she was.

Trowa's place!

"You're awake," somebody said. Dorothy turned to see a girl about her age or so, standing at the door. In her hand was Dorothy's dried clothes.

"Catherine," she breathed, having meeting Trowa's surrogate sister once. "Good morning."

The older girl smiled mischievously. "I think the correct greeting would be 'good afternoon'."

Her eyes widened. "What? I have been asleep through the morning?" she gasped. When Catherine nodded, Dorothy quickly grabbed the clothes that was handed to her and started to change.

Catherine chuckled, giving the girl some privacy. "Get change. Then join me for… uh… lunch." For the remark, she was rewarded with a mock glare from Dorothy.

As Dorothy dressed, she couldn't help but notice the delicious smell of food attacking her nostrils. Her stomachs growled as she made her way out of the room. There, she discovered Catherine placing a steamy bowl on the table.

Seeing the food reminded Dorothy that she hadn't had any food since yesterday.

"Where's Trowa?" she asked, seeing that they were missing a pilot.

Catherine shrugged, nonchalantly though her concern was visible in her eyes. "He had something that he needs to take care of." She gestured Dorothy over. "Come on. Dig in."

**>>>>>**

Lady Une regarded the occupants of the room one by one. Throughout the night, they've worked out their plan to attack the Jupiter base and it was only this hour that the plan was at last finalized. When her eyes rested on Duo, she caught him nodding off; his still recovering body reminded her that the boy still needed his rest.

They all did.

"Then it's settled then," she spoke up, interrupting the quiet conversation between Zechs and Noin. She sensed Duo straightened himself up as the others turned their heads towards her.

"Yes," said Quatre, nodding. His eyes trailed over his fellow pilots, who nodded their agreement as well.

"Good," Une acknowledged. "I'll inform Agent Grant of his new orders." She paused, staring hard at the pilots. "In the meantime, get some rest boys. You'll need it."

They nodded again, though Une could clearly see that rest was the farthest thing in Winner's mind. Rising from their respective seats, the pilots, Zechs, Noin and Sally piled out of the room. But before any of them could leave, the whole base squealed with alarms.

Bewildered, they looked at each other. Quickly, Une reached over the comm. "What happened?" she barked. Everything had finally come down so nicely. What could go wrong?

Grant appeared on the screen. His face was ashen. "Ma'am, it's the Gundams," he began, drawing the pilots' attention. "Someone has stolen one of the Gundams!"

Before she could even acknowledge the information, five sets of feet ran out of the room, followed by Zechs, Noin and Sally. They ran quickly to the hangar, where they've kept the Gundams. Each pilots thought of the same thing. How could've someone stole a Gundam? And right under their noses?

When they finally got to the hangar, they noted that Kylie was already there, staring at an empty spot between Sandrock and Altron where Heavyarms should've been. Trowa stared hard at his missing Gundam, ignoring the concern faces of his friends.

"How can this be?" Duo cried, exasperatedly. "The base is secured, isn't it?"

"It is," Une answered, joining them. "Our thief must've known our security system explicitly."

"He must have," Zechs agreed. "Only a level 5 hacker could hack into a Gundam's security system and stole it without us knowing it." He paused, glancing over the hanger. "Even that, he still has to deal with our high tech security system."

"We must find the missing Gundam quickly," said Quatre, watching as Heero bent down, looking for clues. "This could affect our plan." He paused, turning to Une. "Maybe we should postpone."

"No," said Trowa, surprising all of them. Even Heero stopped what he was doing. Trowa turned to them. "_I'll_ take care of our thief," he said, there was something in his eyes that Quatre had never seen before. Anger? "But the plan will have to go as scheduled. I'll even fly a standard Taurus if I have to."

For a moment everyone was silent by Trowa's declaration. Then Heero nodded, wiping his hands. "Suits me fine," he said, leaving the scene. Quatre hesitated a moment before joining the others leaving the hangar.

**>>>>>**

He left the Preventers base, knowing that they would be looking for him. But he was smart enough not to fly the stolen Gundam, fully aware that if he had done so, they would've shot him out of the sky. And _'they'_ he didn't mean the Preventers.

He sighed as the truck that he was driving entered the woods, not very far from the base. He knew that he had to ditch the truck some place, away from where he intended to hide the Gundam. But that was not a problem for him. Years of experience in stealing the Alliance's mobile suits since he was young had taught him plenty of tricks on how to hide something so big so effectively.

He glanced back where he came from, feeling a slight pang. His only regret was not able to tell his friends of his dilemma. But if telling them what happened could hurt them, he preferred shouldering the burden himself.

He continued on.

He never looked back.

**>>>>>**

Dorothy returned to the base feeling slightly better, though the strange heaviness in her heart hung on. But after a spending a night at Trowa's, she felt as if she could face anything. Even facing the two people who seemed to be giving her the most pain.

Walking to her room, she recalled what happened last night. She couldn't recall much, having doing the crying while Trowa held her in his silent attempt of comforting her. But she appreciated the gesture. Once the crying stopped, she felt even better than she thought possible. And wet. So, Trowa brought her over to his sister's apartment, where they changed and rested.

When she noticed Trowa coming towards her direction, she stopped. She took in his handsome face, noting a slight tension in his usually calm eyes. Frowning, she called out to him. "Trowa?"

He stopped, looking at her bewilderedly; as if just awaken from a deep slumber. When he saw who it was, he nodded. Dorothy found herself disappointed by his less-than-enthusiastic greeting. "What's wrong?" she asked when he stopped.

Trowa shrugged. "Nothing much," he said, voice soft. "We're attacking Winteridge, that's all"

"Oh?" Dorothy responded, feeling more disappointed now that Trowa seemed to be a little distant. She stopped him again when he made his move to leave. "Anyway, thanks for the comfort. I needed that."

Trowa looked lost for a moment. Then a strange light flashed in his eyes. "It was my… pleasure, Dorothy," he said, throwing her his rarest smile. Then squeezing her shoulder in reassurance, he left.

**>>>>>**

Heero found Kylie hunching over the database, as usual. She didn't even spare a glance at him when he flopped down onto her bed. A second later, Adin rose from where he had been lying near her feet to join Heero on the bed.

Heero ruffled the dog's thick fur, all the while waiting for his twin sister to acknowledge his presence.

He didn't have to wait long.

"How did it go?" she asked, eyes still stuck on the screen.

"We're launching at 0500 hours," he answered, giving her the briefest review of their lengthy discussion. "Lady Une's putting all available agents into this. Noin's going to lead the ground team while we're taking the front line with Zech's team."

"What about Barton?" she inquired.

"He's determined to join the battle," Heero answered. "Without him, we're down to three active pilots."

At that Kylie turned around. "Maxwell still refused to pilot his Gundam? Even for this dire mission?"

Heero shrugged. "We don't have any choice in that. You know as well as I do what he's at."

She snorted, bitterly. "Good thing I'm immobilized. Who knows how he's going to keep an eye on both of us." She paused. "Why Barton's not taking the Deathscythe?"

Heero shrugged. "Beats me."

Kylie turned back to her work. Seeing that their conversation was over, Heero lied back on the bed. A minute later, he was asleep.

**>>>>>**

"I'm sorry it's turning out like this," said Winteridge, breaking the long silence. There was a sincere tone of sadness in his voice.

The clones looked at each other, and then at the man who created them. For a moment, Winteridge could hardly read the expression on their faces. A moment later, he saw **_Kylie-clone_** rising from the sofa and crossed over the room towards him.

There she stood over him, staring into his eyes. She surprised him with a hug.

"Don't be, father," she said, calling him by the name that she had used when they were little. "We all know the risk." She cupped his face, looking into his eyes. "We would gladly fight for you, even if it means not surviving in the end."

He turned to look at the other clones, who nodded in agreement. Suddenly, there was a strange sensation in his chest as he found it harder to breathe. His vision started to blur. He had never seen such fierce loyalty before.

"Don't," said **_Kylie-clone_**, brushing the tears away. "You always said that tears are for the weak." She smiled. "You have brought us into this world. Now, it's time for us to repay it."

Winteridge squeezed her hand gratefully. But before he could say anything, his comm. beeped.

He was mildly surprised to see his last spy appeared on the screen. "Report."

"They're coming," said the spy.

He nodded, turning to Instructor D. "I guess it's time we contact our _'friends'_."

**>>>>>**

The base was bursting with activity. This time, busier than ever. This time could prove the end of Winteridge's army or the Preventers as this was the largest full-scale attack that the Preventers had ever planned since the war with the Telrhani.

Wu Fei sidestepped the agent that almost ran him over, as he made his way to the hangar, fully suited and rested. He was determined to return as a victor or not returning at all. Once he reached the hangar, he saw that the others were there.

Heero and Trowa were already in their Gundam and Taurus respectively, powering up. They were moving the mobile suits into the huge space carrier where they would be flying in before breaking orbit. Quatre was there too, with that girlfriend of his. She seemed to be worried about something and he seemed to be reassuring her. He must've convinced her because she stepped away and watched as he climbed onto his grappling cable.

The sound of a familiar voice broke from his left. He turned to see Duo joking with some Preventer agents. Though his mirth lit up his face, Wu Fei could detect a strange seriousness in his eyes which only visible whenever the pilot was nervous. Not far away, stood Noin shaking her head at the bunch. 'Probably wondering how she's going to handle Duo while he's working under her command.'

"She won't be able to," said a new voice. Wu Fei found Mylin standing on his right. "My guess is, Maxwell will probably disappear off even before she could even issue commands," she continued, sensing his thoughts.

Seeing her, he was reminded that Mylin was one of those who were going to infiltrate the Jupiter base. Her career as a pilot ended when Wu Fei took over his Gundam again.

"I guess, you'll be doing the same to," he returned, resulting a small chuckle from the alien.

She winked. "I guess you got me figured out," she said, slipping on a Telrhani traditional blade in her belt. "An Emperor's Eye works better alone." Then she gave him a little wave. "Good luck out there. You're going to need it."

Wu Fei breathed, watching as the last of the Preventer agents walked up the ramp that lead into the shuttle. He heard that Duo was going to pilot that particular one. "Luck. We're _all_ going to need it."

**>>>>>**

Standing in the middle of the command room, Dorothy watched as Sandrock left the carrier. For a thousandth time, she wished that she could come along. Despite what Quatre said, she failed to quench that strange feeling of heaviness deep in her heart. She had never felt like this before. But she was sure that she would never see Quatre again. And that scared her a lot.

When Trowa's borrowed Taurus finally launched, she found herself praying. 'You take care of him, you hear. Please make sure he comes back to me safely.' When she opened her eyes again, her gaze caught on something in the security camera.

A girl in a wheelchair was staring at the window, overlooking the sky.

**>>>>>**

"We're approaching Jupiter," Quatre reported, seeing a tiny fleck of orange-brown ball far away.

"I see it," Wu Fei reported, coming from behind him.

"Me too," Trowa reported, while Heero grunted as a response.

Quatre opened the channel to Noin. "We're going in," he said, as he led the other Gundam pilots closer to their target. "Zechs?"

"Right in position," answered Zechs from Epyon. He was on the other side of the formation, flanking Jupiter from the left with more than a dozen Taurus trailing behind him.

"Good luck, boys."

Quatre acknowledged Noin with a nod and moved in. He sensed his friends tailing behind him, mirroring his movement. Suddenly, his eyes caught on something from his right. Some glittering light were approaching them.

He cursed himself but Wu Fei was more verbal. "Dang it! They're waiting for us!"

They dodged the missiles that came sailing in. Each of them blew out some of it with their Vulcan cannons. A moment later, Quatre saw a huge number of mobile suits, waiting for them at the frontline. He breathed. "No choice, guys. We've already gone too far to back down now."

"I'm afraid, this is it."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **I could almost hear you guys saying. "Finally! An update." Sorry for the delay and lack of update. It's been… what... three months? Again, apology. I can't help it, really. For your information, I've started on my Masters Degree program and it's rather hectic here since I'm doing it part time along with my job. I know there's a lot of people saying, why the hell this girl do that for? My answer, I don't know! I need the challenge and I think trying to juggle my working life and education life at the same time would be it. Plus, it's my ambition to gain my PhD before I turn 30 or get married. Oops! That was supposed to be a secret.

Anyway, this chapter is a bit slow, I know. More action coming up in the next chapter. And the good news is, I'm on break! And hopefully I can speed up on my update before the semester starts in July. So now, I'm going to leave you guys with your reviews.

Oh, for those who are reading my Gundam Seed Destiny/ Gundam Wing crossover "Wings of Destiny", don't forget to catch the next chapter some time next week!

**Ookami Kage: **I've tried interrogating my muse, torture her in fact but she's still not talking. She actually threatened me not to give an update unless I start treating her like a QUEEN! Can you believe that! Anyway, we could pray that Quatre will end up with Kylie and things would end happily ever after.

**L.A. Une: **Ohh! You waited!Okay, NOW you're making me feel guilty for not updating sooner. Gomen ne! Gomen ne!

**StevenL: **Thanks for the uplifting e mail. I'll take your suggestion into consideration. And no, I'm not planning to kill off any of the boys just yet. Need I emphasize on YET? He…he... that means it could happen. Eep! The boys are gonna kill me this time!

For those who wished me Happy Birthday, a thousand thank you. Can you believe that I actually forgot how old I am this year!


	8. Chapter 8: A Miracle

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**NOTE:** To avoid confusion, I have **_italic-and-bold_** the clones' name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who's who.

**SHATTERED WALLS VIII: A MIRACLE.**

By Arayelle Lynn.

"The enemy has been waiting for us," Agent June reported.

"What?" Lady Une came to her. "Impossible. Unless…" Something dawned on her. 'We still have a spy!'

"Don't worry about them. They'll make it through," said a quiet voice, coming from the doorway. Lady Une watched in surprise as Kylie came, wheeling in. Her eyes were staring at the screen, ignoring the worried looks everyone threw at her. "The Gundam pilots won't let the mission fail. Even if it should kill them." This she said with a strong conviction.

**xxxXxxx**

"You've just signed your death warrant, Winner," said Quatre's clone, slamming into Sandrock. Quatre rolled away just in time to avoid being whipped by Kylie's clone.

"Hello, lover," she said, in a way of greeting.

Quatre gritted his teeth as he faced the two Gundams. Not far away, Altron was engaged in a fierce battle with Gundam Poseidon as Wing Zero was tangled in a mad dance with Gundam Zeus. Farther away, he saw that Duo's clone had chosen Trowa as his opponent. Of Trowa's own clone, he couldn't find any sign of him.

Suddenly out of his peripheral vision, Gundam Nemesis and Ares threw him a double shot from their rifles. Before Quatre could dodge, he was slammed back into his seat, hard. Biting back a cry, Quatre willed his vision to return to normal as his mind tried to figure out what hit him.

He didn't have to try very hard. A second later, the answer came to him.

"Pay attention, Winner. We can't lose you yet," said a deep voice. The one who pushed him out of harm's way.

"Zechs!" he gasped as he watched Epyon swung his heat chain at the two clones. Then, he continued to press his attack on Gundam Nemesis. "What are you doing?"

Zechs spared him a look. "Thought you could use a hand. I've been meaning to test out this new system."

It was then Quatre realized that Zechs had the Zero-Infinity system on. A glance at his screen also shown that Wu Fei and Heero had theirs on too. Saying a quick prayer, Quatre switched on the system.

For a moment nothing happened. Suddenly, he was swallowed by a blinding white light as his body started to lose its gravity. No, not his body. His mind no longer registered his body! Then his world started to expand as he saw the stars looked a lot clearer than before.

A strange sensation washed over him. He felt free, as if he could do anything. Then came the familiar feeling, a feeling he had never experience before but it was strangely familiar. Sandrock?

A strange thought, or a presence or something… acknowledged him.

'I'm merging with Sandrock!' he figured out at last. 'Is that what the system does?'

**xxxXxxx**

"Good, he's learned one of its secrets," Kylie's whisper did not go unheard by Lady Une and Dorothy. They both turned to her.

"What do you mean?" Dorothy demanded, stalking over her. "What's happening?"

Kylie tore her eyes from the screen, which featured the fierce battle that took place between Sandrock and Ares. Only now, Sandrock had the equal chance as its cloned pilot. "You should be proud of your fiancé." She shrugged nonchalantly. "Quatre managed to do something even the other Gundam pilots failed to do. Figuring one of the system's many secrets."

"What does that mean? What's the secret?"

"That would be telling," said Kylie, pulling back the arm that Dorothy had grabbed.

Seeing that Dorothy was about to blow up, Lady Une interceded. "Kylie, tell us what do you mean?"

The girl scowled. "It means that Quatre's the only person, other than Heero, who has fully mastered the system," she answered. Seeing their blank faces, she continued. "It means that he'll be okay, so chill," she retorted, giving Dorothy a warning look.

Fortunately, Dorothy was too relieved to take note of her tone. She slumped into an empty seat but her eyes stared at the screen again. This time, she was less anxious than before. She knew that Kylie would never say that if she wasn't sure that the boy they both loved was going to be fine.

"Noin's group is in position," June reported, attracting their attention.

Lady Une went to her. "Good. Initiate phase two."

**xxxXxxx**

As he fought Kylie's clone, Zechs kept his eyes on his men as well. He nodded in satisfaction when he found that they were hanging on fine, even by a thin thread. Though the Preventer agents had been ready and well-trained, their number was a far cry from Winteridge's army. And to top that, Winteridge's army used gundanium-made mobile suits against neo titanium-made Taurus of the Preventer's.

Zechs couldn't help but wonder how Winteridge had convinced so many people to work for him when the world was already embracing peace. He knew that many people were left dissatisfied over the end of the Telrhani war but Zechs knew that they shouldn't be enough to create an army as big as this!

'Of course!' an inspiration hit him. He dodged another blow from Nemesis and sent one of his own. Then he went over to destroy another enemy's mobile suit. 'He could have them cloned! Why didn't I think of it earlier?'

"Sir! Squad 15's been totally wiped out," came a report through the comm. Zechs cursed but kept his cool.

"Get Decker to back up the rest of the squad in the area."

"Roger."

"Wind, Fire's in position," said Lady Une, appearing on the screen much later. "Entering phase two."

"Roger."

"What the…" Zechs heard **_Kylie-clone_** cursed. Something had hit her from behind. Suddenly, a series of white light trailed over the battlefield and hit the enemy's mobile suits. A squad of Winteridge's exploded almost simultaneously.

Tiny specks of lights dove into the battlefield.

Zechs could only smile.

**xxxXxxx**

"The Maganacs!" Winteridge admonished, almost delightfully. "I've wondered when they'll be making their reappearance."

Suddenly the whole room shook, nearly throwing the occupants off their feet. The crew looked at each other in shock while Instructor D glanced at his employer. "What happened?" he demanded. A crewman ran his fingers on the console before reporting. "It's… an attack!"

"Confirm that," said another crewman, listening to the earpiece. "A group of our workers attacked our soldiers. They've full control of most sections!" she gasped, astonished.

Instructor D looked at her. "I suppose these **_workers_** are the ones from L2, right?"

Her shock confirmed his suspicion. He looked at Winteridge. "This must be Winner's work." His words were followed by another explosion, this time it came from the outside.

"The Preventers have broken through our defenses."

Both Winteridge and Instructor D exchanged knowing glances. "Your Grace," said a crewman. "At this rate, both Preventers and the traitors will capture our base! What are your next orders?"

**xxxXxxx**

"Okay, you all know Master Quatre's plans," Rashid started, yanking the throttle to one side to avoid the rain of bullets. "While Agent Zechs and his Preventer team secure the right flank, we will secure the left. Let's give the Gundams plenty of room to breathe at the center." He looked over the screen. "Abdul, I want your team to secure Agent Noin and her team. Make sure they reach the surface safely."

"Thank you, Rashid," came the reply from Noin's shuttle. She was sitting in the co pilot seat, next to Duo who was piloting the shuttle. He expertly maneuvered the shuttle through the hails of missiles, without hitting one.

"Good luck to you all."

**xxxXxxx**

"Okay, hang on everybody!" Duo yelled as the shuttle broke through the atmosphere. The shuttle shook from the stormy weather of Jupiter before it finally descended low enough to the surface. A tiny speck began to appear in the horizon and from it, came tinier shimmering lights. Instantly, they knew what that was. Winteridge's main headquarters.

The comm. crackled as an Arabic face appeared on the screen. "We will take on the _Furies_. You continue your way towards the target."

"Roger that," said Noin, gratefully. "Thanks for the cover, Maganac."

"Just get Winteridge and we'll call it even."

"Will do," Duo answered for her. His eyebrow furrowed in concentration as he ducked through the hails of missiles. Though the Maganac had provided them with a perfect cover, they still have to go against the assaults from the base.

Next to him, Noin shot down any missiles that came in their way. Like Duo, she too was lost in concentration. Mylin, on the other hand, leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed. The other Preventer agents glanced uncomfortably at her, wondering how calm she could be being in such a perilous state.

"Better grab onto something," Duo's voice interrupted their thoughts. He had found a point of entry and was poising to ram into it. Noin quickly spotted his aim and fired at the steel door, creating a hole large enough for the shuttle to squeeze through.

They made a none-too-gentle landing but Noin had expected nothing better from the Gundam pilot. Unstrapping herself, she swiveled around to regard her agents. They were all preparing their rifles, removing the safety clips. "Alright, this is it," she began. "You've all been divided into your own teams. Alpha Team will come with me to secure the command center. The rest of you will rendezvous with the other agents and secure the rest of the base. Remember to secure all exit points." She nodded at them for the last time. "Let's move!"

With that, she led them to the exit. The agents followed her in an orderly manner. Noin raised her eyebrow when she found that Mylin was already at the exit, looking outside. She gave Noin a nod saying, "The coast clear."

Noin acknowledged her report. "Right, let's go." When the door was open, Mylin stepped out even before Noin could stop her. Then taking a deep breath, Noin rushed out, weapons ready and full.

**xxxXxxx**

"Wind is in," June reported, receiving the updates from the battlefield. "The Maganacs on Jupiter are holding themselves well as their comrades in space." Then came another report. "Squad 8 has broken through the enemy lines. They're assisting the Maganacs."

"And the Gundams?" Dorothy enquired, a look of deep concern etched on her beautiful face.

"Still engaging the enemy Gundams," the agent replied. "Gundam 05 and Epyon have each deactivated the Zero-Infinity system. Gundam 04 has twenty seconds left and Wing Zero has yet to activate the system."

Kylie nodded in understanding. The pilots and she had agreed that they would deactivate the system the minute their time was up. Once they have turned it off for ten minutes, they are allowed to activate it if they need to.

"What about Barton?" she inquired, watching the screen.

June turned to regard her before giving her report. "He's not doing well in defending that sector. Our agents there had taken the worst hit." Then her eyes widened. "Wait! Epyon is breaking away from Nemesis. He's heading towards Barton. And Nemesis is following in pursuit."

'I applaud your quick actions, Zechs,' Kylie thought, noting Dorothy's sigh of relief. 'By abandoning your fight with my clone, you had cleverly lure her away from Quatre. And not only are you able to keep her away from Sandrock, you would also made it possible for your squad in that sector to gain the upper hand.' But as she thought of that, her eyes went to the Taurus that Trowa was in. Again, she was disturbed by the weakness of the pilot's assault on Gundam Hades. 'Is it because of his mobile suit? …Or something else?'

Her musing was rudely interrupted by a loud rumbling sound, followed by an earthquake. They were all thrown to the floor and some of the consoles exploded. The room was plunged into darkness before the emergency supply kicked in. By then, black smoke filled the air as agents picked themselves up from the floor and rushed over to the consoles with fire extinguishers.

"What the hell happened?" Lady Une yelled to an agent. The base shook again as something in the base exploded.

Agent June stared at the screen in disbelief. She turned to Lady Une, her eyes wide. "_We're_ under attack!"

"What!" Sally dropped the empty fire extinguisher. "By whom? Does Winteridge have an Earth troop?"

Paling slightly, June shook her head. She reached over and pressed a button, activating the view screens. They each showed strange but familiar looking mobile suits attacking the base's surface. They gasped, recognizing the suits at last.

"The Telrhani!"

**xxxXxxx**

"Right on time," Winteridge whispered, watching the Preventer Earth base's predicament. A second later, he heard the sounds of rifle shots echoed on the other side of the door. His crewmen glanced at him, uncertain in what they should do to rectify the situation. But instead of giving orders, Winteridge smiled even wider, drumming his fingers patiently.

"Right on time," he repeated, sparing a glance at his right-hand man.

Instructor D bowed at him. "As you have planned, my friend."

Then the door burst open.

**xxxXxxx**

For the first time ever, Duo found himself fighting side-by-side with someone he still considered an enemy. Because this time, both of them had the same enemy, Winteridge. Under other circumstances, Duo would've snorted at the very notion but that day, he was nothing but serious.

Sensing that they would only slow the two down, Noin had allowed Duo and Mylin to take the frontline. Their job was to scout ahead and get to Winteridge before he escaped. That task would be difficult for others but not for a Gundam pilot and a trained alien assassin.

Shifting the rifle in his hand, Duo signaled Mylin. She nodded, for she too had seen the guards stationed along the corridor. But before Duo could beckon her over for a plan, she jumped for her hiding place and ran towards the guards, weapon shooting away.

Duo cursed. He had meant to surprise the guards but now that he recalled the way he rammed into the base, he reminded himself that the whole place already knew that they were there. Gritting his teeth, Duo jumped out and followed the alien.

Within a few seconds, all the guards were down. Duo and Mylin found themselves heading for the next corridor when suddenly they heard running footsteps coming from behind. As one, they whipped around, only to see Noin leading the other agents towards them.

"All clear?" the Preventer officer asked.

Duo gestured at the door at the far end of the corridor. "That's the command center. My guess is we'll find Winteridge there."

Noin nodded. "Good. Let's go."

They started to move. That was when Duo saw Mylin stiffened and stopped. He saw her tapping at something in her ear. "What is it?" he heard her whisper. Duo realized with a start that the alien was talking to a comlink.

Suddenly Duo saw her paled. A frown appeared as her voice shook in utter surprise. "What! How did it happen? What's the target?" At the response, Duo saw Mylin went even paler. Her face turned to anger. "How dare he. He'll pay for this."

Before Duo could ask what upset her, Noin's team broke through the heavy steel door. And hell broke loose again.

**xxxXxxx**

"Something's wrong," Zechs heard Quatre said over the channel.

"What is it, Quatre?" Heero prompted, slashing his saber at Gundam Zeus. He then turned around to cleave a sneaking _Furies_ into two.

"I've just lost contact with base," his friend answered.

"What?" Zechs startled, checking his comm. as well. But he received nothing but static. "What's going on back there?"

"I don't know but I don't like it."

**xxxXxxx**

Once they burst into the room, they were surprised to find Winteridge sitting there all alone. He was leaning back against his seat, fingers drumming fingers, looking relaxed and well-composed. He raised his eyebrow as an agent pointed a rifle between his eyes.

"What took you so long?" he said, calmly. It was as though he was merely greeting an old friend.

Noin stepped forward. "Give it up, Winteridge. We have you surrounded."

He raised his eyebrow again. "Indeed?" Then he raised both hands. "Alright, I surrender." An agent came to cuff him but stopped at Winteridge's next words. "Of course, you might rather want to worry about something other than myself."

Noin's eyes narrowed. She didn't trust this guy. "What do you mean?"

"Your base for once," he responded, smiling slyly.

"What is your game, Winteridge?" she prompted, fingers tightening around the trigger.

He shook his head. "No, no game. It's the truth and if you're not quick enough you might lose more than this war." His eyes gleamed as he smiled snidely. "Right at this very second, a troop of soldiers are attacking your Earth base."

"What?" Noin started towards him. She didn't believe a single word he said. "You're bluffing."

"See for yourself," said Winteridge, nodding at the screen just above his head. They looked and gasped. As one, they turned to Mylin who was entering the room. She seemed disturbed but when she saw what was beyond the screen, she froze, balling her fists.

The Earth base was under attack!

**xxxXxxx**

"Ready all cannons!" Sally shouted so she could be heard over the blaring alarms. "Fire!"

"Send out all remaining mobile suits," Lady Une instructed Agent Grant. He nodded, before began issuing orders to his own men. "Damage report!" she barked at June, as the pretty agent went through the words on the screen.

"Sector 2,3,4,5 and 19 suffered heavy damage. We've lost sections 9 through 15 and the outer buildings are in verge of structural collapse." Again the base shook. Une bit back an angry curse. "Correction, we've just lost section 2 and most of section 3."

"Ma'am, we're through," said another agent. Lady Une turned to see Kylie moving away from the console. She had been helping the agent to patch through a secret channel in which she occasionally used to contact Heero.

"Earth base come in!"

_Crackle_.

She rushed over. "Zechs! Status." Despite of being under attack, Une was more concern over the mission.

"We're progressing. What the hell happened?" he enquired, for a moment forgotten who he was addressing to.

_Crackle_.

"We're under attack. The Telrhani just took us by surprise," she answered him. "We're holding on at the moment though we don't know for how long."

Suddenly, the base took another hit. The whole structure shook and groaned. Debris from the ceiling started to rain on them. Une gripped the edge of the console as the shakings subsided. That had been too close!

"Oh no!" June gasped. "They're after the communication tower. Without it we'll lose all contact."

"Damn!" Sally cursed, seeing the enemy converging towards a tall tower on the surface. "They're cutting us off from the rest of the world."

Une knew that she had to work quickly. The tower will not hold for long. And even then they were losing the signal. "Zechs! Concentrate on your mission."

"But…" the protest came from Sandrock. Dorothy's heart made a leap at the desperation in it.

"Secure Winteridge first and _then_ you may send anyone available to assist us," Une spoke quickly, ignoring Quatre. "If we fall, regroup at the New Edwards' base."

Before Zechs could respond, the screen went dead. But they managed to capture one word that came from Sandrock. "Kylie!"

Dorothy felt as if she was hit in the gut. She stared hard at the screen, where both Zechs and Quatre's faces had appeared a moment ago. Her throat started to constrict as the truth finally sank in. Quatre was _still_ in love with Kylie! And he cared about her more than the girl he was marrying!

She turned around to see Kylie's reaction to this. But to her surprise, she found the girl missing.

**xxxXxxx**

"Make your choice," Winteridge prompted calmly. "Me or your base."

Noin stared at him. Beads of sweat started to roll down her cheeks as she contemplated over what she was seeing on the screen. The Earth base wasn't doing any good, for most of its agents were in space, fighting in another battlefield.

'What should I do? Which should I abandon? The mission or the friends I left behind?'

The answer came to her a second later. Zechs' voice came through the comm. "Secure Winteridge. That's an order, Noin."

Hearing his words, Noin became certain. Winteridge shook his head, disappointedly. "Well, can't blame a guy for trying right?"

Suddenly a shot rang out. Surprised, Noin and her agents watched Winteridge melted away and vanished. "A hologram! Damn it, he fooled us again." She kicked the seat in frustration. "I should've known." Then she turned to Duo. "How did you know?"

He shrugged. "He was talking waaa…ay too much. It's either he loves to listen to himself or he's stalling."

"Great! You could've told me earlier," she muttered, then turned to the rest. "Scout the area. Find the duke. "Carlos," she called the agent who had rushed towards one of the consoles. "Patch me through Zechs immediately. The sooner they knew we've secured the base, the sooner they can return to Earth."

**xxxXxxx**

"Agent Wind! We've secured the base. I repeat, we've secured the base."

"Roger that," Zechs responded, killing his last _Furies_. He turned around; expecting Nemesis attacks but to his surprise, found that Kylie's clone was gone. In fact, all the other clones had disappeared from the battle. Apparently, they had ordered the _Furies_ to distract their opponents so they could rejoin Winteridge.

"They're gone!" he heard Wu Fei cursed. He could tell that the Chinese pilot was still hungry for blood.

"I don't care. I'm going back," said Quatre, heading towards Earth at top speed. In his mind, he kept on repeating. 'Hang on, Kylie. I'm coming for you.'

**xxxXxxx**

"Lady Une, you better take a look at this," said Grant, bending over a screen.

"What is it?" Une inquired as she came over.

Grant frowned. "It's the 5th hangar, the one we store the Gundams. It's opening!"

"What!" Sally gasped. "Could it be that someone is trying to steal the Deathscythe?"

"Can't be. The person had all the valid access codes to open the door."

The head of Preventer was about to remind him of the spy when a thought suddenly came to her. Spinning around, she searched for one face that she had not seen for a time. "No, she can't be," she whispered, causing Sally and Grant to turn to her, deeply concern. "It's Kylie!"

**xxxXxxx**

The comm. blinked crazily as a voice broke through. "Kylie! Stop what you're doing. It's dangerous for you to pilot a Gundam in your present condition!"

"I can handle it," she responded, tonelessly.

"But how will you move it? The foot pedal…"

She gritted her jaw, feeling the sting in the words. But then, Mylin's words came back to her.

"_What's stopping you?"_

At the time she couldn't say it but now she will show her that she had _never_ let anything stop her before. "It's been taken care. I've reprogrammed it to go automatic. I can control all Deathscythe's movements with the throttle."

"But it's too dangerous. At least wait until…"

That struck something in her. She glared at Une, growling. "I will _not_ allow myself to be protected like a useless invalid! Especially by…" she cut herself off as the words **System Ready** appeared on the screen. The next words were said tonelessly. "I rather be dead."

'I don't need you Quatre. Stop protecting me!'

With that, she launched.

**xxxXxxx**

"What the hell!" Duo jumped, seeing a familiar MS appeared on the screen. It was fighting against the Telrhani, taking most of the brunt of the attack. "Deathscythe?" he blinked. When that did not work, he rubbed his eyes. But seeing the image held, he stood gaping. "Who on _Earth_ could fly a Gundam? _My_ Gundam!" he spoke to himself, ticking off all the possible pilots. But they were all in space except…

Duo released a chain of curses that so shocked Noin that she came over to him. "What is it, Duo?" she asked, looking up and saw the image of Deathscythe destroying a Telrhani suit with its scythe. "Who's piloting that?" she asked, marveling at the skills and precision of the pilot's control. "We don't have an agent who's capable of piloting that well."

"That's not just your average pilot," said a new voice. Mylin walked over to the two. She regarded the image first before smiling to herself. "It seems that the warrior in her still lives."

Noin looked at her. "What? Who?" Then a thought came to her. "No, it can't be."

"I'll make her pay!" Duo hissed, giving Noin his confirmation.

Noin quickly turned to an agent. "Patch me through to Winner. He has to know." The agent obeyed.

Mylin, meanwhile, ignored the rest. She stared at the screen calmly. 'Welcome back, my old rival.'

**xxxXxxx**

"Quatre, what's your ETA?" Noin's voice suddenly broke through the comm. She sounded strangely urgent.

Quatre glanced at the time before answering, "Twenty minutes." He accelerated his Gundam even more. He knew that he must get there as fast as he could. Then, remembering the distress in Noin's voice, he asked, "What is it?"

There was a moment of hesitation. "It's Kylie. We believe that she has commandeered Deathscythe and is piloting it to battle."

"What!" Quatre almost brake then, if such was possible for a Gundam. "What could she be thinking? She'll only endanger herself."

Before Noin could answer, something flew passed him. Startled, Quatre looked at the screen and saw Wing Zero, shooting down like a meteorite.

**xxxXxxx**

Going back into battle had never felt this good. The adrenaline rush, the danger, the kill all contributed to the thrill that she was feeling. She had fiercely missed this. The freedom, the thought of being the one determining other people's fate by the barrel of her weapon, all of this felt good. It was as if she was home!

Then it happened. It was just a tiny glitch at first and then her whole world started to fall apart.

She heard a cry.

Then a maniacal laugh.

She blinked, trying to determine where the sounds had come from. A second later, she saw a shadow coming at her, rushing towards her. Then, he raised his filthy hands towards her.

Kylie's heart clenched then. She found herself frozen in time. The hands continued to come upon her. When it brushed her, something inside her snapped. "No!" she screamed, unconsciously cleaving a Telrhani suit into two.

She turned to face another. This time, the man was holding pieces of bloodied clothes in his hand. He was still laughing. "I will _kill_ you!" she growled, cutting another enemy. She spun; nearly slicing one of the Preventer's suits had not something stopped her.

She shook her head, willing it to clear. 'Don't do this, ZERO!' she thought, fighting for control against the dangerous system. She had expected that it would happen again since she had never mastered the system before.

'Show me my current enemy,' she ordered it. 'I'll deal with _him_ later.'

Then she was in control again.

**xxxXxxx**

Sally Po watched the battle above, open mouthed. By the request of Lady Une, she had taken a Taurus to back Deathscythe up. But she hardly expected to find the terrible state they were in.

Presently, the Preventers defense force was greatly diminished. The base had lost all cannons and the Taurus team was down to fifteen. And they were all now defending the base with all they got. The only person fighting in the middle of the thick foray was Kylie, in her borrowed Gundam, locked in a ferocious battle.

Again, Sally found herself marveling at the girl's skills. She was deeply impressed that the girl's lack of mobility and time away from battles hadn't affected her ability to control a Gundam. It was as if the old Kylie Rayden was back.

But the tide soon changed for when Deathscythe managed to cause the most damage to the opposite team, the Telrhani decided that it was a threat to be eliminate first. So while they pressed against the defenders, most of the Telrhani troop flew over into the chaos to deal with the one and only Gundam.

'No!' Sally found herself shouting as Deathscythe took a nasty hit. Shaking herself free from her thoughts, she pushed her Taurus forward to back Kylie up. But no sooner had she appeared on the battle field, she was targeted.

**xxxXxxx**

Kylie grunted as she was thrown against the screen. She bit back an angry curse as she struggled to clear off the haze in her head. The cockpit was glowing with red lights, alarms blaring, deafening her. Ignoring the biting pain on her back, she pushed the throttle forward.

Something flashed on her screen and Kylie released the curse that would've even made Heero frowned. She tried to bypass the command but failed. The words continued to dominate the screen.

**Current settings offline. Switching to default mode.**

Not good. She had just lost control on the foot pedal. This means that she was earth-bound and would not be able to fly or move quickly.

Again something hit her. Kylie cursed, slamming her hands on the keyboard. It was then she felt a slight flicker. And she felt a profound calm filled her. She may be decapitated but the Zero System was still with her.

Letting out a war cry, Kylie spun and impaled the next Telrhani suit.

She failed to notice a ray of light hitting the other Telrhani behind her.

**xxxXxxx**

When the clouds finally opened up before him, Quatre gasped at the devastation the battle had left on the Earth base. The outer buildings were totaled and a part of the underground base had caved in. Everything was burning, including the forest that surrounded the base. The ground was littered with decapitated Tauruses and Telrhani's fighters and Mican Troop. The ones left standing were so very few that he could count them in one hand.

He gasped when he saw Deathscythe among the fallen, lying on the ground, motionless.

"Kylie!" he cried, swooping down to land next to Wing Zero. He saw Heero leaping out, making his way towards the fallen Gundam. Quickly, he released his straps and got out. As he descended, he saw the others made their landing as well.

"Heero!" he ran up to join Heero. The stoic pilot threw Quatre a glance. "Heero! Could she be…?" he couldn't continue the thought.

Heero shrugged but there was a slight change in his eyes. "Beats me," he answered. He watched as Quatre cupped his mouth with his hands and called out. "Kylie!" When there was no answer, he steeled himself for a climb.

Suddenly, the cockpit door hissed open. Both Heero and Quatre stopped and looked up. Kylie emerged from the cockpit, her face turned to the skies, watching the remaining Telrhani retreating. But that was not the thing that surprised them.

Kylie was standing! On her _two feet_!

Only then did Kylie notice the eyes on her. She frowned, looking down at her own legs. Then her eyes sought Heero's. They betrayed the look of total confusion and shock. "Wha…?" she began. It was then her legs buckled under her.

Before anyone could comprehend anything, Heero moved. He made a giant leap onto Deathscythe and caught his twin sister before she fell. Prussian blue eyes met winter blue ones. "Wha… what happened?" but before she could finish the sentence, her eyes fluttered close.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **Now before you guys start throwing dangerous projectiles towards the little old innocent me for the late update, let me clear this up for you. This time, the delay is definitely NOT my fault. The chapter was ready a long time ago, the problem lies when I couldn't upload it in my FFNet account. Yup, I'm one of those affected by the recent misgiving. Ai!

And wow! Looks like things are finally getting interesting. And I ruined it with a cliffhanger! Don't worry, I'm about to ruin it for you guys more with this announcement. Since my classes are about to start in another week or so, I'm afraid I'll only have enough time to update "Wings of Destiny" some time next week. (I hope! ) So that means, I won't be able to update "Shattered Walls" in near future.

But, I will still try to update at **least** once a month. Just pray for me and keep the reviews coming because they boost my motivation, you see. Okay, end announcement, let's go to my replies.

**Ookami Kage: **What? Hit Duo? No, don't hit him! My sister will kill me. She's a big fan of Duo and would not like it if she finds out I turned Duo into a wimp! Hmm…Trowa and Dorothy, a couple? We'll see. Quatre and Kylie? Let me say this. Everything is subject to changes (btw, my muse told me to type this)

**Galilean: **Leaving this story unfinished! My dear, I LIVED for Gundam Wing. Can't get the boys out of my mind. If I leave this story unfinished, they will drive me INSANE! It may be a slow going but never unfinished. I have planned so many things for our boys -evil grin-

Kill off Quatre? Wow, can I be so unkind to myself? Like you I LOVE the little blond Arab. But… geez… I don't know about killing him off. My muse's not talking. As for Duo's reason not to fly, heh, you'll find out sooner or later. But I did throw in a clue or two, I guess, they were too subtle. Kylie, a victim of sexual abuse? If you have time, go read "Circle of Wishes" the prequel to my fics. You'll find clues lying around. If not, you'll just have to wait. Me, kill off Trowa? I think he would kill me first before THAT happens! I don't know. Again, my muse is not talking.

**Elizabeth:** He..he.. I think almost everyone I know wants to kill Duo for not flying. Don't. I still need him. Yeah, things do point towards a Trowa-Dorothy relationship. Since there were so many Trowa-Quatre and Quatre-Dorothy out there I was tempted to try something new. But who knows, things could change. Still, thanks for the review.

**StevenL: **Yes, Zechs and Noin are married. But no, they haven't any kids. Yet.

Oh, before I forget, Happy Independence Day.


	9. Chapter 9: Gone Solo

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**NOTE:** To avoid confusion, I have **_italic-and-bold_** the clones' name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who's who.

**SHATTERED WALLS IX: GONE SOLO.**

By Arayelle Lynn.

Wu Fei did not know what brought him down to the launching bay that night but who he found there grabbed his attention. Wearing a flight suit and talking to the flight attendant on duty was Mylin Sar Henar.

That got him thinking about his late wife again since the similarity in their features was uncanny. But Wu Fei did not have to keep reminding himself that they were two different people. Not for the fact that Mylin was an alien but because he had already accepted Long Meiran's death three years ago.

However, despite of Mylin having time and time again helped them through the duration of the recent conflict, his trust in her was still quite minimal.

"You're leaving?" he asked, seeing her climbing up the ramp to her shuttle. She stopped in mid-step and turned.

She shrugged. "My part here is done. And I'm needed elsewhere."

"Back to your people?"

Mylin shrugged as a confirmation. "They need someone to keep them together."

"To do what? To keep on causing trouble? Or to finally launch a full assault on us?" he prompted. "Were you responsible for the last attack? Is Maxwell right and your people _are_ working for Duke Winteridge, hmm?

Something unreadable crossed her alien's eyes for a moment. Then it was gone. "Think what you want to think," she responded, before proceeding up the ramp. She was aware of the Chinese pilot's ebony eyes on her but chose to ignore them.

"Thank you," said Wu Fei rather suddenly. Surprised, Mylin froze again. Recovering, she nodded her acceptance but before disappearing into the shuttle, she said one last thing. "The Mars colony." He raised one of his eyebrows questioningly. She stared at him evenly. "If I were you, I would go and check it out before doing anything."

Her words both surprised and puzzled him. Before he could ask what she meant, she continued. "Don't ask what I mean but something feels wrong about the colony."

A few minutes later, her shuttle was out of the launching bay with him looking out as it vanished into the starry night.

**xxxXxxx**

"I just can't believe that Lady Une allowed that alien to leave this base. She's a spy, I tell you. I saw her in contact with someone just before the attack on the Earth base. She could be the one who ordered the attack. Heck! She could be Winteridge's spy!" said Duo Maxwell, pacing back and fourth.

"You cannot make such assumption. There could be an entire different story," Zechs chided him. But judging from the expression on Sally, Noin and Grant's faces, they seemed to be agreeing with Duo. So, he continued. "Actually, I'm more interested in knowing what Mylin means to Lady Une."

At that everyone turned to look at him, even the ever silent Trowa Barton. But Zechs did not offer anymore input. Instead, he forced them to wait until the head of Preventers was made available.

**xxxXxxx**

"Well, there's nothing I could say that could explain this miraculous recovery," Dr. Farrell-Burnett declared, after hours of thorough examination.

"Meaning?"

"Technically, she's supposed to be permanently paralyzed with almost no chance of recovery. Well, that's what I gathered from her medical report," she explained to Lady Une, Heero and Kylie. Then she gestured at Kylie's working limbs. "But this… this is nothing short of miracle. It's downright impossible."

"Could it be that the Zero System did this? Is it possible that the system has unknown healing properties?" Lady Une suggested, her eyes meeting Kylie's. After all, the system _did_ recover the girl's lost past, albeit it being deeply buried in her mind.

"That might be, though we're not the ones you should be asking that questions," Heero answered, mildly reminding them who created the system in the first place. "But to our understanding, the system is only a tool used in battles to assist us Gundam pilots."

"And from what I learned of the new system, there's hardly any room for what you're suggesting," Kylie answered, recalling all the studies she did on the new system. "It wasn't even activated when I was piloting Deathscythe."

"Hmm…" Dr. Farrell-Burnett frowned, mulling things over. "It's also possible that it could be due to your regular therapy. There have been cases similar to yours in the past, though the occurrence is very, rare." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Or we could stop guessing and concentrate on making you feel better, right, young lady?" she regarded Kylie, who answered her with an indifferent look. "Though you're now mobile again, I would like you to continue your therapy. Don't strain yourself and no heroic stuff until I say so," she advised, knowing Gundam pilots too well.

Then she glared at Heero and Lady Une. "But for now, I'd like the two of you to leave. The patient still needs some rest, so git." She shooed them towards the exit.

"Wait, Heero," said Kylie, stopping them. "There's something you should know."

Heero returned to her side and bent his ear to her lips.

**xxxXxxx**

Quatre watched the whole conversation outside sickbay. He could hardly register the content of the discussion. He was confused. In fact, he had never been this confused in his life. A part of him was happy that Kylie was able to walk again but a part of him dreaded it. He did not know why but the tightness in his heart would not go away. Why did he feel so?

Maybe because a part of him thought that while Kylie was paralyzed, he could at least protect her even though it was clear that they could not be together again. And maybe the thought of her not needing him anymore was too much for him. Or maybe the look of open triumph she threw at him, as Heero carried her into the infirmary.

But whatever it was, he was deeply pained by it. And he instinctively pulled himself away from her, from all his friends.

"Quatre?"

'Dorothy!' he remembered, turning around. He smiled wearily at her. "Some battle, huh?"

She nodded, casting a quick glance at the foursome in the infirmary. Suddenly, a strange feeling washed over her. "Dorothy?" Quatre held her by her shoulders. His eyes were deep in concern as he searched her pale face. "Are you alright?"

She returned his smile, detaching herself from him. "I'm fine, now." Then she hesitated. Her fist clenched around a tiny cold object in her hand. "Quatre, there is something I want to talk to you about."

At the same moment, Lady Une and Heero chose to make their exit. Dorothy broke away from Quatre. "How is she?" she asked, pocketing the object in her fist.

Heero's eyes trailed upon her, as if sizing her up. Then he answered. "She'll be alright," he said but his words seemed to be directed towards Quatre. "Come along, Quatre. Lady Une is debriefing us."

For a moment Quatre hesitated, sparing a glance at Dorothy. He knew that there was something that she was holding back. That strange look she threw him a moment ago told him that there was something serious going on in her mind.

Dorothy shook her head. "Never mind. It's not _that_ important." She gently pushed him towards Heero.

"But…" he protested.

She held his eyes, touching his delicate chin. "We'll talk later. I'll wait for you outside." She leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. Then she walked away.

**xxxXxxx**

Lady Une felt eyes staring at her the second she stepped into the room. Looking at them one by one, she settled down. The meeting room had been spared from damage, miraculously. She only wished that she could say the same for most of the sectors in the base. Fortunately, the men and women in Preventers had been resilient enough to start the repairs soon after the battle. Thinking of them, she felt a sudden surge of pride filled her heart.

Now, on with the agenda.

She cleared her throat, though that was not necessary since she already had everyone's attention. "I am aware that there are… concerns about my handling of Mylin Sar Henar, the Telrhani former assassin." Seeing a few of them shifted, she knew that she was correct. She continued. "My actions are not without reason, of that I can assure you."

A few of them raised their eyebrows, prodding her to continue. Heero and Zechs looked at her impassively. "First of all, we do not have enough evidence to prove that she is really a spy or was even aware of her people's latest actions."

When Agent Grant was about to protest, she raised her hand, stopping him. "_Secondly_, and this particular information must stay in this room. Mylin Sar Henar is a member of the Preventer Agency effective three months ago."

There was a collective of surprise gasps. Sally and Noin looked at her in a quiet shock while Zechs, Heero and Wu Fei looked taken aback. "In fact the minute that I found out that she was alive, I offered her a place in our agency."

"Why?" Duo blurted.

"Let me explain," she began, leaning forward. "It's been almost a year since we started having troubles with the Telrhani refugees. They attacked the colonies and resource satellites to keep themselves alive as well as making our solar system as their new home. And we, as the defender, knew nothing better than to keep their activities restricted. This untended gap between both parties had caused our inattention towards Winteridge's plans and made us vulnerable."

"I took Mylin in just so she could act as the liaison between us and the Telrhani. Of all Telrhani, it is safe to say that we can only trust Mylin. And now that she held such a strong influence over the Telrhani refugees as the former Emperor's Eye, I was hoping we could bring our people together. This is what the President, Mylin and I have been working on."

Lady Une's eyes hardened. "But when Winteridge attacked, we got sidetracked and Mylin ended up fighting our battle," she said, sparing Wu Fei a glance. "Only now, after that big assault the Telrhani launched at us, we realized our mistakes. And I've ordered Mylin to return to her people to avoid other serious confrontations in the future."

She sighed, letting the burden go. "Now that _that_ little bit is out, let's talk about the reason we're here." She turned to her right. "Noin?"

"Jupiter is secure. I have stationed our agents there to maintain order between the civilians and prisoners." She glanced at Zechs, who nodded. "Zechs and I will return ASAP to begin a sweep throughout the perimeters. We believed that there are enemies still in hiding in the underground colonies."

"And the Maganacs?"

"They've returned to the Winner's satellite."

"Winteridge?"

Noin shook her head. "Gone. We failed to even trace his retreat."

Lady Une sighed. "So, our current standing is that we've secured all the colonies, except Mars and our enemy are still running loose."

"Let's not dwell too much on that," said Heero, drawing everyone's eyes on him. "We've hit the enemy pretty hard and it'll take them time to recover. The only thing we could do now is to recover ourselves and at the same time maintaining our search."

"You're right," said Sally. She pursed her lips, thinking hard. "Though the most possible choice would be Mars, he could be hiding anywhere. Outer space is a very big place."

"Then, we'll just have to concentrate on places where he could access supplies easily," Quatre interjected. "Maybe the asteroids that is closest to the colonies or a private resource satellite. Then there are also the moons of Jupiter, Mars and Earth."

Noin nodded. "I agree but we also have to work on liberating Mars and capture Winteridge's agents that are hiding in the colonies. Once we've done so, it might help with our search."

"Good thinking," said Une, approvingly. She turned to regard all of them. "However, before we start making plans of attack I want to make sure that all Gundams and Tauruses are repaired and in top shape." She said this to the boys and Howard, who had just joined them from the newly-liberated MO V. She turned to Agent Grant and Sally. "And I want the damages to the base repaired. Order the yellow alert. We can't be caught by surprise again if the Telrhani decide to attack."

Thinking that she was done, Heero stood. "Where are you going?" asked Lady Une.

Heero stopped in his tracks. He turned. "Kylie said that there was a slight glitch in Deathscythe's computer system. She wants me fix it before the spy could access and download the Zero-Infinity program."

Lady Une waved him off. "Later," she said. "I need to speak to you about something," she dismissed the others. Heero watched as his friends and comrades filed out of the room. Soon, they were alone.

**xxxXxxx**

When Dorothy was tired of waiting, she decided to take a walk to clear her mind. But when she realized where she ended up, she was surprised. The hangar was dark and empty, except for the Gundams which were waiting to be repaired. And she was even more surprised to find herself standing before an empty spot, next to Sandrock, where Heavyarms once stood before it was stolen.

'What am I doing here?' she asked herself, staring at the empty spot. She sighed. 'What am I doing _here_?' she questioned again but this time it was directed towards the whole Earth base. She was supposed to be on the Winner's resource satellite, planning for her wedding. Instead she was here, doubting her decision to marry one of the wealthiest heirs in the world. And the man of her heart.

'Why is everything so hard?'

Suddenly, a slight sound banished away her thoughts. Dorothy turned sharply towards Deathscythe, eyes squinting to make out the figure in the shadows. "Who's that?" she asked, her right hand strayed over to a wrench in a toolbox.

"It's just me," came a familiar voice. Dorothy released the breath that she had been holding. "Trowa. What are you doing here all alone?" she asked, watching him emerged from the Deathscythe cockpit.

He threw her one of his rare smiles. "Doing Heero a favor," he answered, there was a strange irony in his voice. Then, the light in his eyes changed as he regarded her. "Hey, Dorothy. Do you mind helping me out a little?"

She shrugged. "Sure, what do you want me to do?"

"Come here and I'll show you," he said, beckoning her over.

She was about to take one step closer when suddenly a voice stopped her. "Stay where you are." There was a click of a gun being cocked. Startled, Dorothy froze. She scanned the hangar, trying to determine the origin of the voice.

Trowa looked hard at something behind her. But his next words were directed towards her. "Come to me, Dorothy. I'll protect you," he said, reassuringly.

She took a step forward but stopped when she heard the gun being tapped. "Stay, Dorothy. He's not who he appears to be," said that voice again. This time, she found something strange nagging at the back of her mind. She couldn't pinpoint who but the voice sounded familiar!

"Come to me, Dorothy," Trowa repeated, calmly. "Don't worry about him. He won't hurt you."

Instead of obeying him, Dorothy turned to regard the shadows behind her. "Show yourself!" she demanded all fear was forgotten, replaced by curiosity. "Tell me who you are."

For a moment, she could sense the intruder's hesitation. Then, there were a couple of footsteps as the intruder stepped into the light. Dorothy took note of the gun that was aimed at her before she actually saw his face. What she saw then made her gasp in disbelief.

"Trowa!"

There was no mistake in what she saw right then; the smooth impassive face, the lonely eyes, the light brown hair that fell onto a part of his face, covering one of his beautiful green eyes. The person that was aiming his gun at her was Trowa Barton alright.

But wait a minute! How can there be _two_ of them?

She looked at both Trowas, feeling confused. One of them must've been the clone. But which one?

The first Trowa, she noticed, was wearing the same outfit when he left for space a few hours ago. His space suit was identical to the one the other Gundam pilots were wearing. So, he must've been the real Trowa.

On the other hand, although he was wearing an old t shirt and faded jeans, there was something about this new Trowa that appealed to her. She found herself strangely comforted by his presence. But what if she was wrong…

Suddenly a shot rang out. All three of them turned upwards, staring at the figure standing on Deathscythe's shoulder. His cold blue eyes bore into three of them. "I've relieved you of making the choice," said Heero Yuy, his gun pointing at the first Trowa Barton, the one who had been battling _with_ them in space a few hours ago.

It was then Dorothy noticed that Trowa was clutching his bleeding hand; a gun lay scattered a few feet away from him. "What do you think you're doing?" she glared at Heero, thinking that maybe he was a clone too.

Heero was unfazed by her tone. Instead, his eyes stayed onto his target. "He's the spy. Always has been."

The first Trowa smirked. Dorothy found herself completely taken by surprise by the sudden change in his tone. "And what gives me away?" he asked, mockingly.

"That glitch in the Deathscythe's computer system was just a ruse. Only the spy would take the bait," Heero explained. "Besides, you've posed as Barton before and you'd likely do it again."

"I see," the spy nodded, raising his hand. "Well, you got me. What are you going to do with me? Kill me like your twin sister would?"

If Heero was troubled by his words, he didn't show it. Instead, he nodded and Duo, Wu Fei and Quatre stepped out from the shadows. Duo and Wu Fei quickly secured the clone with a pair of handcuffs as Quatre made his way towards Dorothy.

"Are you okay?" he asked, checking her over for injuries. She nodded before turning to regard the real Trowa, looking slightly peculiar in faded jeans and an old shirt. "You have some serious explaining to do, mister."

**xxxXxxx**

"It all started when I discovered Catherine's disappearance," Trowa began once they assembled in the meeting room. The spy was placed in one of the cells beneath the base, heavily guarded. His interrogation will be held the next morning. But for now, everyone was more interested in hearing Trowa's story since his presence hadn't been included in the plan.

"My clone lured me to an abandoned house where he held Catherine. Obviously, it was a trap and I fell for it. He had a bomb strapped around Catherine." He unconsciously rubbed his left arm as he relived the moment. "There was only a few seconds left before the bomb exploded. I tried throwing it as far away as possible but the blast brought the whole house down on both of us. I guess that's why he thought we were dead."

"Fortunately, we survived the blast and decided to play dead, knowing that he would already be taking my place among you," he continued, missing the look silent of alarm that Dr. Farrell-Burnet threw at him. She leaned forward, taking note of his every moment, gauging his health through her trained medical eyes. "In the meantime, I tried my best to watch my clone's every movement so I would know when he finally strikes."

He looked at Heero. "When I heard Kylie has finished installing the new system in Heavyarms, I decided to 'steal' my Gundam. I was afraid that he might hand it over to Winteridge." He gave Heero a knowing smirk. "Is it safe to guess that _that's_ when you suspected something was amiss?"

All of them turned their heads towards Heero, surprised by this. The Wing Zero pilot nodded but gestured at Trowa to continue. "I'll get to it later. Best if you finish the rest of the story."

Trowa nodded. "So, I stole my Gundam, hide it and return occasionally to the base to see how my clone would react. And when I heard that you were launching a major assault on Jupiter, I debated with myself whether I should go."

"But luckily I didn't. I was about to launch to space when I heard of the Telrhani's assault. It was then I decided that I should confront my clone." He shook his head. "I couldn't afford to leave the clone feeding off information to the enemy for far too long."

He turned to Heero. "Your turn. How did you know that my clone would be in the hangar?"

"It was part of our plan," said Heero, all attention turned to him as they were all eager to know the full nature of Heero's plan. Since he was short of time, Heero had only relay a rough sketch of what went on. Now, they were about to find out everything.

"As you already know, I suspected something was amiss the day Heavyarms was stolen." He then saw the puzzled look on Noin, Sally, Dorothy and Relena's faces, so he clarified. "Only a level 5 technician could breach a Gundam's security net. And the only people who could accomplish this are us Gundam pilots, the clones and Zechs."

"When Heavyarms was stolen, my first thought was the clones. But when they didn't show any indication of using the system in the battlefield, it got me thinking. Why would Winteridge stole Heavyarms but not use the new system?" He shrugged. "But all I had then were suspicions. Winteridge might have other plans. That is until the Telrhani attack made it all clear."

"Of course!" Sally snapped her fingers. "That mysterious shot that came from the woods." She turned to Trowa. "That was you, right?" Then something dawned on her. "Kylie must've noticed it too! She was the one who told you about it," she said to Heero.

"Yes," Lady Une confirmed. "She provided us the final piece to the puzzle. Once it was clear who the spy is, Heero, Kylie and I devised a plan to lure the clone to catch him red-handed. We decided to set the bait when we're at the meeting."

Quatre nodded. "Clever."

"Alright, alright, it _was_ pretty clever," said Duo, folding his arms. "But next time, let's leave Deathscythe out of it, okay?"

That generated a laugh that sent relief through all of them.

**xxxXxxx**

He woke up when he saw someone was standing outside his cell. Squinting, he let his eyes adjusted to the light to focus on the figure. When he at last discovered who it was, he sat up. "Oh, it's you."

"Disappointed?"

He gave her a grin. "Not really. In fact, I've been meaning to have a word with you." He nodded at the cane in her hand. "Good to know that you're back in shape. Your clone had been worried that she might never get to battle you."

"What makes you think I'd go back to the battlefield?"

He shrugged. "Maybe for the fact that _he_ told me that you live for blood?"

"He?"

"Forget it," he shrugged, dismissing her interest. "I'm sure you have a more important question to ask me."

Letting the subject go for the moment, Kylie narrowed her eyes. "Tell me who."

"What do you mean?" he responded, feigning innocence.

"You know _exactly_ what I mean," she retorted, drawing closer. "The person who trained you clones. I know for the fact that Winteridge isn't the one who trained you. He might be a good war strategist but a trainer he is not. And judging from your skills, you must've been trained by someone good."

For a moment, he stared at her. Suddenly, he broke into a mirthless laughter. "Bravo, Kylie Rayden. You've uncovered yet another of our secrets," he clapped his hands. But Kylie was in no mood for anything so she kept her face impassive.

"Talk. Who trained you?"

The clone laughed. "That would be telling, wouldn't it? And you're not even in the interrogation team." He paused, staring at her empty expression. "But you've been a very clever girl, Rayden, so I'll just give you this bit. If you really want to know, he is connected closely to you."

**xxxXxxx**

"Ahhh… our new home," Winteridge breathed, as he settled comfortably on the sofa. The five clones flopped down before him, looking at him expectantly. Feeling their gazes on him, Winteridge opened his eyes.

"We'll settle down first," he answered their unspoken question. "Get some rest, gather all our forces, and revise our big plan. The Preventers were hit even worse than us and they still have yet to know of our plan. Let them think that they've crippled us. Let them search for us. They'll never know where we really are."

Sensing their disappointment, he turned to Instructor D who remained standing. "In the meantime, old friend, what do you have in store for us?"

Instructor D flicked the remote control to show the image of the battle between the Preventers and Telrhani. They watched Gundam Deathscythe in action carefully. When the image showed the pilot emerging from the Gundam, Instructor D hit the 'pause' button. He smiled wickedly at them.

"Revenge"

**xxxXxxx**

It's time.

He rose from the cot, listening to the guards. One of them was snoring and the other was just too quiet. He snorted at the Preventers' pathetic excuse of security. But then again, all agents must've been pretty banged up after the two battles, which made it perfect for him to escape.

Moving slowly and quietly, **_Trowa-clone_** reached for the sole of his shoes. There, he tapped twice before something popped onto his palm. He held up the two pink-colored clays before moving over to the door stealthily and smacked the clays onto the lock.

Then he removed his watch. He pried open the surface to reveal two tiny wires inside. He attached the wires into the clay, pressed the side button of his watch and ran to take cover under the cot. A second later, an explosion dug a hole in the door and a portion of the wall. Though the explosion was small, it was enough to knock the two guards out.

He licked his lips at the thought of his fast approaching escape as he bent over one of the guards and confiscated his weapon.

**xxxXxxx**

When the alarm broke the stillness of the early morning, Dr. Farrell was frowning over a medical report she held in her hand. Looking up, she saw Trowa Barton slipping on his shirt and made his way towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" she demanded, stopping him. "We're not finished here, you know."

Trowa gave her a look that put finality in her argument. "It's my clone. He escaped," he said, telling her what he had sensed. With that, he was out.

She sighed grumpily.

**xxxXxxx**

Dorothy's first instinct when the alarm awakened her was that the base was under attack. So, reflexively, she jumped from the bed and headed towards the door. But what awaited her on the other side cleared the fog in her head a bit too late.

Someone grabbed her and pushed her back into the room. A smooth hand clamped over her mouth as a strong arm wrapped itself around her. Her eyes widened as she met Trowa's face… or rather his clone's. "Do not make a single sound. Or I'll blow your pretty head off," he warned.

She nodded. He then removed his hand from her mouth and pulled his borrowed gun out. "Let's take a walk, Miss Catalonia," he said, pulling her with him towards the door.

**xxxXxxx**

Quatre sighed, wiping off the beads of sweat on his forehead. He stepped back, eyeing Sandrock critically before finally nodding to himself in satisfaction. Tossing the wrench back into the toolbox, he grabbed a dirty-looking rag and wiped his grease-stained hands with it. He chuckled a little when he caught his reflection on the computer screen.

He was a mess! His face and blond hair was stained with grease, his clothes dirtied with dust and sweat. He was hardly the person the public deemed as the ESUN's darling space ambassador!

"Hey, Howard!" he called out to the man who was working on the Heavyarms, all the while stifling a big yawn. "I'm going to call it in."

"You should, Quatre! Let my boys clear everything up for ya," the old man responded, affectionately.

"Ok, thanks," he said, tossing the rag back. "Good night."

Howard chuckled. "Good morning." Quatre glanced at the chronometer, seeing that it was already 4 o'clock in the morning. He grinned sheepishly at the older man and waved his good bye.

He left the hangar, heading straight for his quarters. The hallway was empty as it was quiet. Most of the agents had turned in early due to the excitement earlier that day. And Quatre also believed that he was actually the only Gundam pilot still up and about. The others had turned in some time hours before him.

Suddenly, his journey was interrupted when the alarms wailed, disintegrating the shrouding fog in his mind. Turning around, he quickly made his way to the control room. His thoughts were already processing for a battle.

"Mmmphf…" Suddenly, a muffled squeal stopped him. Quatre's eyes immediately spotted a shadow moving into Hangar 12. When he heard the squeal again, he dashed forward.

"Dorothy!" he gasped, surprised to see her standing in the middle of the hangar. When his eyes rested on the gag that was stuffed into her mouth and her hands that were tied behind, he immediately figured that something was amiss.

Too late! Even as the warning bells inside his head rang, even as the warning squeal escaped from Dorothy's sealed lips, Quatre felt the world exploded at the back of his head as someone hit him from behind. He fell onto his knees, stunned by the pain but years of training did not go to waste. When he sensed the second blow coming, he rolled out of the way, catching himself on fours, trying to shake away the swirling darkness.

Without even waiting for his vision to settle, Quatre pushed himself up and rammed into his attacker. But before he could make contact, there was a gunshot, a searing pain in his chest and Quatre found himself being thrown back from the impact. The last thing he remembered was cursing himself for doing the stupidest thing.

**xxxXxxx**

Dorothy's eyes widened at the sight of Quatre, lying on top of a growing pool of blood. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak and couldn't move. The image of her fiancé lying dead on the ground refused to leave her. Suddenly, she was aware that someone was pulling her away from Quatre. She struggled, trying to break loose, to try and save him. She barely even registered the threats that were said to her. Her only thought was on the body on the floor. 'Quatre! Quatre!' her heart cried in desperation

'Help me! Someone help me!'

But the only someone who knew that she was in trouble was lying on the floor, bleeding to death. As the clone pushed her into a shuttle, her eyes spotted a brown haired guy coming from the entrance. Her heart fluttered a little.

'Trowa!'

Then the door of the shuttle slid close.

**xxxXxxx**

The sight of Quatre lying on the floor shocked him. Trowa dashed to his side, scanning for the puncture wound. As he checked his friend's vital signs, Trowa heard a loud rumbling sound. He looked up to see a shuttle making its way out of the hangar. A sinking feeling overwhelmed him as a thought came to him.

"Dorothy!"

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **I know I've promised an August update but things happened and couldn't be helped. I've got tons of assignments to be completed each week and school activities just keep stealing my free time. But I managed to keep what little time I have and start editing this chapter. I don't know if "Wings of Destiny" will be updated any time soon, but I will try. Gambatte!

And don't forget to review. I think it does boost my motivation.

**Ookami Kage: **My muse bonked me in the head for asking if she'd take bribes. Ouch! I guess this is one bribe-free muse. (tried bribing her before and she refused to inspire me for a week!) Anyway, yeah, Kylie's walking and… wait(!)… did I just kill Quatre in this chapter?

**Galilean: **Yeah, the Telrhani are back! Just wanted to remind everyone that they still exist and are not as docile as we all think. Oh, yes. They're busy alright and they'll be playing a major role in the coming series. An alliance with Winteridge? Hmm… I wonder what he had offered to make the Telrhani want to cooperate.

Yup, it's Trowa's arm. I think I'm starting to sympathize with Dr. Farrell, who's only acting in his best interest. Can't imagine how she's going to force Trowa to take a decent rest to heal. Yeah, maybe Dorothy should come in.

Kylie, back in a Gundam? That's a good thought but I'm not sure that's what my muse is planning. But who knows maybe she'll change her mind.

And thank you for your feedback. It really brightened up my day. This chapter is dedicated especially for you!

**Ara7:** Sorry, not much Relena in this chapter. But she'll take an active role in later chapters. So, stay tune. I see, Kylie still has to win your heart. Well it is good that she elicits such response from you. A writer's nightmare is when nobody feels about their characters. To have you actually hating Kylie for what she did… wow… arigatou.

Right. Now I'll have to go work on Wings of Destiny. See you until then.


	10. Chapter 10: The Hunt

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**NOTE:** To avoid confusion, I have **_italic-and-bold_** the clones' name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who's who.

**SHATTERED WALLS X: THE HUNT. **

By Arayelle Lynn.

He approached the shuttle cautiously. His eyes roamed around its surrounding, scanning for any sign of the passengers. But there was none. The lush forest around him was quiet and undisturbed, saved for the sounds that belonged to nature.

Satisfied, he took a few steps nearer, finally finding himself inside the small shuttle that was a stark contrast against the green organic atmosphere. His fists tensed as his eyes trailed along every corner of the shuttle's interior. He only relaxed once he reached the empty cockpit.

It seemed as if his quarry had abandoned the shuttle. 'The clone must've another form of transportation nearby' he thought, making his way outside the shuttle. Trowa's eyes wandered among the trees, hoping they could tell where his targets were. Then his eyes tracked two pair of footprints barely visible on the dry forest floor, leading into the thick of the woods. He silently commended his quarry. 'I should expect that from my clone. It's only logical to abandon an enemy's transportation as to avoid other form of detection. '

But that would make **_his_** job harder.

Throughout the journey, Trowa had been plague by two contradicting thoughts. Since he was the only one able to follow the clone undetected at the time, he couldn't throw away the golden opportunity of finding out Winteridge's whereabouts. And he was sure that his clone will eventually lead him there.

However, the disturbing thought of putting Dorothy in more danger than she already was kept nagging at him. He found himself loathe at the thought of using Dorothy's precarious predicament to their advantage. If he hadn't had any other concern, he would've gone and rescue her right away. But the thought of sacrificing more innocent lives for Winteridge's meaningless battles kept him at bay. He must not allow his emotions to get the better of him.

But that was not all he thought of. His other concern lied hundreds of miles away, in the form of a blond haired body, lying on top of a growing red pool, unmoving. If only he knew how Quatre was doing…

'Stop it, Barton!' he chastised himself, shutting his eyes to block out the image. 'He'll be alright. Heero and the others will take care of him. Dorothy, on the other hand, needs you.' Taking a deep breath, he set on his journey into the green mesh.

**xxxXxxx**

"He's going to be fine," Dr. Tricia Farrell-Burnet announced the moment she stepped out of the operation room. They released a sigh of relief but the troubled look failed to leave their features. Relena in particular was looking at the doctor, silently pleading for the complete prognosis.

She gave them one. "The bullet missed his vital organs, luckily but he's going to be out of action for quite some time." When Duo Maxwell opened his mouth, she cut him off. "**_Don't_** expect him to regain consciousness any time soon. The anesthetic ought to keep him down for a long time." With that she left to tend to her patient.

Lady Une turned to the others. "Well, that's that. Our prisoner managed to escape, with Dorothy as hostage and the real Trowa Barton is missing, most probably in pursuit of the clone."

"Have we managed to track down the shuttle yet?" Sally inquired.

Une nodded. "We had. But a few minutes later, the signal vanished. We assumed that the clone has disengaged the transponder in the shuttle so we wouldn't be able to track him down."

"Yeah, if I were him, I would've done the same," Duo agreed, there's a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Anyway, I have a couple of agents working on it. They're charting a possible flight plan based on the clone's last known location."

"What about Trowa's shuttle?"

"The same." She shook her head. "As it stands, I would advise against keeping our hopes up on this."

"You're right," Heero agreed, much to everyone's surprise. "We can do nothing to remedy this."

"But Trowa might need back up," Noin protested.

"Only we don't know **_exactly_** where they've gone to," Duo pointed out. "They could be anywhere! And the fact that Trowa has disengaged his transponder as well tells us that he doesn't want to be followed." He frowned, grudgingly agreeing with Heero. "I hate to say this but Trowa's on his own. Again."

"But he's your friend. You must at least try," Relena argued.

Heero calmed her with an apologetic look. "Believe in him, Relena. Trowa **_will_** rescue Dorothy and bring her back safely. It's important for him to do so."

"Besides, it'll be dangerous for both Barton and the girl if we are to track them down now," Wu Fei added, quietly.

Relena turned to him. "What does that mean?"

"Think about it. If we start searching for Trowa, we would risk compromising his exact location. Made his location known to any other spies we have yet uncovered," Duo explained, off-handedly. "And knowing the guy, he'd probably be tracking them down silently and hoping that the clone would lead him to… say, Winteridge's current location."

Heero stopped Relena's protest with a look and then regarded the others. "The only thing we **_can_** do right now is prepare for the worst."

"The worst?" Sally echoed him.

"Now that the clone has escaped, our present condition would be made known to the enemy," Zechs explained who had been silent the entire time. "I wouldn't be surprised if the clone even managed to spirit away a few of our classified files too."

Lady Une nodded grimly. "Agent Grant has reported a breach in our computer system. Someone has accessed the mainframe just before the clone escaped with the shuttle. No need to guess who." She looked at them. "The only thing we can do now is continue on as usual. Make repairs to the base and strengthen our defenses." She turned to Noin and Sally. "I want you two in charge of security. Run a complete security sweep to detect any other spies Winteridge planted in our base."

She turned to the Gundam pilots and Zechs. "And you people better make sure your Gundams are ready for the next battle."

"Got it," said Duo as he left with Wu Fei, Heero and Zechs. Sally and Noin left the opposite way, towards the control room, leaving Lady Une and Relena staring through the glass that revealed the activities inside the infirmary.

"Kylie," said Lady Une, turning to regard the girl who had been silent through the briefing. Earlier, she had requested to be released from the medical bay, much to the displeasure of Dr. Farrell-Burnet. Only after a series of heated arguments, the doctor finally agreed to release her. On one condition; Kylie was to report in everyday for a medical review.

At hearing her name called, Kylie met her eyes evenly. "Maybe it'll be better if you remained in sickbay," said the elder woman, but her eyes hinted something more than her concern for the girl's own physical health.

A strange look flashed on Kylie's face but her words betrayed none of her emotions. "I need access to all security networks on Jupiter," she requested, without even glancing at the infirmary. Her mind was already occupied with something else all together.

Une was surprised by the request. "Why?" she questioned. "What for?"

"To uncover the one who is hidden."

**xxxXxxx**

Dorothy stumbled over a tree root. Unable to catch herself in time, she landed on her knees, hard. A sharp pain jolted through her spine as she gritted her teeth from crying out. Before she even had the chance to recover, her bounded hands were pulled up as a strong arm wrapped itself around her.

"Now, now, none of that, Miss Catalonia," her captor whispered in her ear. "We still have a long way to go so we couldn't afford a short rest."

She glared at him. The sharp pain was subsiding but she could feel a throbbing ache in her right knee as something oozed down her foot. She immediately knew that the fall had cut her knee.

Seeing the glare, the clone laughed mirthlessly. "That's it, Miss Catalonia. **_That_** is what I was talking about," he smirked, surprising her. Instantly, her thoughts returned to the short exchange they had on the shuttle…

_He towered over her. Dorothy, in her part, cringed back. A muffled whimper escaped her gagged mouth. She could only watch as he knelt, his hand reaching for her face. The gag was then removed but she was too scared to even take a deep breath._

_The clone watched her, his eyes betrayed nothing. He then pulled her to her feet. "We're leaving," he said, pulling her with him._

_"Where are you taking me?" she finally found the voice to speak. "Where am I?" Her eyes wandered around her wildly as they exited the shuttle. There was nothing much around them except for trees. A forest, she reckoned to herself. But where?_

_A ghost of a smile played on his lips as he regarded her. "Don't play the dumb hostage, Dorothy Catalonia. I know that you have more spunk than this." When she didn't reply, he smiled snidely. "Well, if you insist on playing the game then I shall indulge you. We're ditching the shuttle." Seeing her startled expression, he continued. "Come on, we have a long walk ahead."_

_"Why are you taking me? Why not leave me here?" she questioned, her voice was calmed, a far cry from the distraught girl a few moments ago._

_There was a strange gleam in the clone's eyes as he looked at her. He smiled. "Why indeed..."_

Those were the words that sent shivers down her spine. It was right then, Dorothy decided that although the clone possessed every aspect of Trowa's genes, he was a far cry from the quiet and subtle pilot. Trowa Barton **_may_** have killed many people during the war because he had to but this clone, he would kill innocents because he **_enjoyed_** it.

And right now, Dorothy felt that she was going to be one of the unlucky innocents.

"Now, let's move," **_Trowa-clone_** said, pulling her with him. "I want to be there before sundown."

**xxxXxxx**

"Ma'am."

"Agent."

"We heard what happened."

"How much have you heard?"

"Just about everything. But we, too, failed to track the shuttle in time."

"Nothing escapes you, is it? I should've known **_she_** would keep you well informed."

"It's tough having someone you married smacked right in the middle of ground zero. Are we being recalled?"

"No, I have another assignment for you. I want you to find Winteridge."

"That's a tall order, ma'am. You're not betting on Barton, I assume?"

"Oh, I'm betting on him alright. It doesn't take me years to realize that the Gundam pilots always have the knack of fulfilling what they set out to do."

"But…"

"But I won't be the one betting on him as well. The enemy would be expecting Barton or any of the boys to find them sooner or later."

"You're expecting a trap?"

"I just feel better if I have other… 'sources' looking out for them as well."

"What about our current mission?"

"Abort. I have another agent on it as we speak. And she's the only one who could get us closer to the Telrhani."

"Well, since you put it that way…"

"And be careful. Especially that brash younger brother of yours."

"Roger that."

As soon as the transmission was disconnected, Lady Une leaned back, rubbing the bridge of her nose. A headache was starting to plague her as she considered the events that had been happening these past couple of months. Truly, she had no doubt about the Gundam pilots' ability to track the enemy. But she wanted to make sure that they survived the whole ordeal. They were too valuable.

So thus, she turned to the other two former 'Gundam pilots'. The Burnet brothers.

**xxxXxxx**

She sighed. She had been staring at the screen for far too long that the images were starting to blur right before her. Leaning back, Kylie popped her knotted backbone and rotated her stiff shoulders to release the tension in her muscles.

After spending hours watching the security recordings taken from Jupiter, she had finally found something that caught her attention. An image of Winteridge and his clones in his private office. Only the thing that merited her attention was the image of an unknown person standing right behind Winteridge.

Then in other recordings, she would constantly catch a glimpse of the same person. He or she was always by Winteridge's side, seemingly the one who offers counsel to the power-hungry aristocrat. And when the person had appeared for the tenth times in the recording with Winteridge, Kylie knew that she had found the person that she was looking for.

The one who trained the clones.

However, whether it was intentional or not, Kylie found that the images in the recordings were too vague to make a possible ID. So, she decided to screen the image to make it clearer.

Only that could take some time.

A knock on the door broke her concentration. Annoyed by the intrusion, Kylie frowned as a head popped in. It was that busy-body doctor. "You missed your appointment," she reminded her, folding her arms expectantly.

Kylie bit back a curse, glancing at the chronometer on the screen. 'Dang it! Is it morning already?' she thought as it read eleven hundred hours.

"I take it, from the look on your face, you have missed more than your appointment," Dr. Tricia Farrell guessed, seeing the neat bed and the uneaten dinner on the tray. When she failed to respond, the young doctor sighed. "Kylie, you must get enough rest. Your body needs plenty of it in order to completely heal."

Kylie waved off her 'lecture', standing up. "Let's get this over with," she simply said, making her way towards sickbay. Sighing in surrender, the doctor muttered. "Why do I even try?"

**xxxXxxx**

"Quit squirming," the clone commanded, dragging Dorothy with him. After walking all day and night without sleep, Dorothy found that her legs were rendered numb, unable to support her body any longer.

Unlike her, the clone was as fresh as ever, thanks to the alteration made on his genes.

"Let go of me," she protested, as he dragged her towards an old, abandoned hut.

"You know I can't do that," he said but instead of dragging her into the hut, he brought them out the back where a jeep was waiting. He threw her on the passenger seat and looped the end of the rope which tied her hands together to the hand bar on the door. When he finished securing his prisoner, he took out the gun, giving her a nasty look.

"Now, let's welcome our little tail, shall we?"

Dorothy stared open-mouthed at him. Who? It was then she realized that the clone was implying that someone had been following them! She watched anxiously as the clone leaned against the wall, peering to look at the approaching silhouette of their 'tail'.

When that person was a few meters away, the clone cocked his gun and took aim. Dorothy's eyes widened in shock when she discovered who it was. "Trowa, look out!" she hollered.

The real Trowa took heed of her warning and leapt aside to take cover but it was all a ploy. Instead of aiming at Trowa like he appeared to be, the clone aimed at something on his left. He fired a shot and an explosion hit Trowa, smacking him right against a tree.

Seeing that his original was not moving, the clone kept his gun, climbed onto the jeep and drove away. All the while Dorothy stared horrifically at the limp figure lying so still, surrounded by the flaming forest.

**xxxXxxx**

As soon as he heard the sound of engine fading, Trowa lifted his head. Since he had twice being hit by explosives prepared by his clone, Trowa had been expecting the same form of attack. So, when the explosion happened, Trowa knew exactly where to dodge to avoid serious damage. He kept himself safely tucked on the ground to fool his clone into thinking that the force of the explosive rendered him unconscious.

When the coast was clear, Trowa jumped onto his feet, ignoring the protests of his aching muscles. Narrowing his eyes, he took off after the jeep. But instead of following the vehicle's tracks, Trowa ran downhill, determined to cut off the jeep through the shrubs and bushes to save time. His eyes scanned for the road path where the jeep might drove by and his ears listened for the vehicle's approach.

Suddenly, the jeep passed by just before he broke through some bushes. A moment later his ears detected the sound of another vehicle strolling down the road behind him. Turning, Trowa saw an approaching bike.

Sticking his gun onto the bike, he forced the rider to stop. "I need that bike," he demanded, his eyes tolerate no refusal. Whether the rider was afraid of the gun in his hand or the cold look on his face, he took off screaming, leaving Trowa with his bike.

"Thanks," Trowa muttered, before throwing his leg over the seat and revved up the bike. 'Hold on, Dorothy,' he thought before the chase continued.

**xxxXxxx**

After spending the whole morning talking to the President, Relena found herself walking along the hallway, contemplating over the issues that were discussed. Though she seemed calm and composed, her mind was in turmoil. It had been three months but still the Winteridge's conflict remained unresolved. And the other ministers were getting more concern over her progress. Some even voiced out the need to relieve her of duty. Only her deeds in the Eve War convinced most of the ministers to give her a chance. Which mean one thing…

She had to work fast.

'What am I to do?' she thought, almost pulling her hair in frustration.

"Relena?" a deep voice interrupted her thoughts, sending the all-too-familiar tingling through her body. She looked up to see Heero, staring at her with a kind of intensity that only he could manage.

Smiling, she banished the negative thoughts from her mind and entered the lounge. Though she was a little disappointed that he wasn't alone, she was also grateful when Wu Fei pointedly ignored them and kept his eyes glued on the news.

Relena made herself comfortable on the sofa, next to Heero. The Wing Zero pilot kept his appraising eyes on her as she moved. "What's wrong?" he asked, reading the slight tension on her lovely face.

The hint of concern in his voice touched her and Relena nearly hugged him for it. It reminded her that no one could ever read her as well as Heero could. Not even her brother. So, she mentally hit herself for trying to fool Heero Yuy.

"I'm going back to space," she told him; the decision surprised her even as the words left her lips.

Heero's eyebrows shot up before he looked away. Mistaken his reaction as a form of disagreement, she prepared to reassure him. "Don't worry about my safety. I'm sure Lady Une will appoint her best agents."

"I'm sorry."

Heero's words completely took her off-guard.

"Heero?"

"If I had been stronger, you wouldn't have to go to all this trouble," he continued, softly. "If I had moved a lot faster, I could've stopped all of this from happening. And you wouldn't be in great danger."

For a moment, Relena stared at him. She hadn't expected Heero to blame himself for all that had been happening! Surely, he should have known better than that!

However, one look at him told her otherwise. Although Heero Yuy may appear calm and sure to the others, yet for the first time since she met him Relena could see the uncertainty written behind his confident eyes.

"Heero, no," she turned to face him. "This is not your fault. You couldn't have known."

"No, I _should_. I put you in danger."

"You're wrong," she declared, with strong certainty. "Heero, **_I_ **choose to be here." She tilted his chin up so his beautiful Prussian eyes faced hers. "If I wasn't the Vice Foreign Minister, I would still choose to be here." Her eyes glistened with tears as she recalled the pain she had endured when she thought he was dead. "I want to be by your side for every seconds of my life, even if we're not destined to spend the rest of our lives together."

"Relena…"

'…this is an appalling news to the people of Texas. Earlier today, the residents of a small town were shocked when an explosion killed a family of four and destroyed more than five properties. The firemen are still fighting to keep the fires at bay as the local authorities are investigating the source of the strange explosion. Here with me is the town's mayor…'

The sound of a gasp tore Wu Fei's concentration away from the news as all eyes turned towards Kylie who was standing by the door with a shocked look on her face. Her eyes were fixed on the news, as her whole body trembled for some unknown reason.

Before any of them could say anything, she recomposed herself as an unreadable expression replaced the shock on her face. They saw her jaw clenched as she turned around and left the room.

Exchanging puzzled expression, Wu Fei, Heero and Relena turned their eyes to the screen to see what had disturbed Heero's twin sister so. But all they could see was the journalist interviewing the town's mayor and a couple of its residents.

**xxxXxxx**

Kylie ran back to her room. Despite of having regained her composure in front of the others, her heart was still in a state of chaos. Words and faces jumbled up in her mind as she struggled to make sense of the new information.

Texas.

Explosion.

Him.

She reached her room in a speed that Dr. Farrell-Burnet might've frowned upon in her current state of health. But Kylie could care less. As soon as the door slid open, her eyes were already fixed on the database that she had been working on. There was a small light blinking on the screen indicating that the screening was finished.

Heart beating even faster, Kylie's eyes stared at the image that was revealed before her. She took a step back in shock; her eyes widened as she fully comprehend the whole situation.

What was it the clone had said?

_'He is connected closely to you.'_

That could only mean one thing…

He was back.

And he was responsible for all this.

For a moment, a painful memory resurfaced as a stab of fear filled her soul. Then, a cold and hard feeling washed over her as she recalled the news report. Her eyes narrowed, glaring at the image of a smiling man on the screen. She recalled the look in his eyes as he appeared on the news. It was still as evil as ever. And beckoning… she immediately understood.

He had come for her.

**xxxXxxx**

Trowa prepped the shuttle for take off. As expected, he had tailed Dorothy and his clone to an old space port. He had arrived just in time to see them took off in a space shuttle. Luckily, Trowa had enough time to hide under a tree.

As he watched the shuttle took off, Trowa contemplated over his doubts. Secretly, he had expected his clone to lead him to Winteridge's secret hiding place on Earth. He was sure that the aristocrat was hiding on Earth after the fall of Jupiter. What better place to hide if not under the enemy's own nose?

Obviously he was mistaken. When he saw the jeep pulled over to the old space port, Trowa had to admit that Lady Une was right. Winteridge and the clones were still hiding in space, most probably on Mars.

So, when the coast was clear, Trowa searched the whole area and found another shuttle tucked nicely in a hangar. Wishing he could somehow contacted the others to report his latest finding, Trowa lifted off, leaving everything and everyone he knew back on Earth and returned to oblivion.

**xxxXxxx**

He was trapped. The darkness surrounding him was everywhere, not stifling but not slacking either… Or was it due to the sensation of not being the master of your own movement that gave him this confining feeling. He felt like floating but was unable to propel himself anywhere.

Time. He had lost all sense of it while he was there. It felt as if he had been there in the darkness forever… Or was it yesterday? Time move strangely here. He was not able to tell exactly when these sensations came to him.

Then after an infinity of time, the darkness started to ripple around him. Attracted by the sudden change, he tried to locate its origin. It did not take him long to spot a tiny white light emerging from some unknown point in his black universe.

The light grew as it drew nearer. Voices came to him, filling him with all sorts of thoughts. He tried to make sense on what was being said to him. But he found the voices sounding gibberish… or had he damaged his brain enough to render it useless?

The light continued hovering over him. Its golden radiance brushed him tenderly. It was then a rush of strange feelings filled his core, washing him with pure, warm light. It was the most comfortable feeling he had ever had since being thrust into the black universe.

He opened himself to the light, basking in the glow. A feeling of familiarity touched him, making him gasp in astonishment. He knew this light! Or rather he knew the person this light representing. For this person had been in his dreams always.

He tried to reach out to the light. But by then, the light was retreating back, taking along its warmth. He lunged forward, unwilling to let it go. He did not know why but he must not let the light go. Unfortunately, his limbs failed him and he found himself sinking further and further away from the light. His hands ceaselessly reaching out, calling for its return.

"Don't!"

The light paused. In those suspenseful seconds, he thought that it would return to him. Instead, the warm light burst into a red fiery inferno. Its rage was mighty and terrifying. He took a step back, startled by its ferocious heat and the horrible fury it radiated. Then before he could gather his thoughts together the light vanished, leaving an echo of audible words.

"Alonso, I'm going to kill you."

**xxxXxxx**

The door opened, allowing a man to enter. Winteridge and the clones turned their attention from the news feed to greet him. "Ahh, my good friend. From the news we're receiving I could tell that everything is in motion."

"It's all set," Instructor D reported, making himself comfortable on the sofa.

Duke Winteridge smiled, addressing his clones. "Clean up your rooms, kids. Looks like we're going to have a guest."

Watching the excited clones, he turned to his right-hand man. "Nothing is sweeter than revenge."

"I beg to differ, old friend. Not until you tasted her."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**AUTHOR REPLIES: **Finally! The long-awaited chapter is here! Sorry for the delay. Failed myself a couple of tests and needed the extra time to get back on track. And my full time job isn't helping either! Anyway, things are finally getting in motion. Trowa's getting into action and there was a sweet, tender moment between Heero and Relena. I hope everyone like that bit. As for Kylie, for those who have read Circle of Wishes, you might have guessed who got her so worked up. And I do hope you could tell who was trapped in the darkness. As for the other 'Gundam pilots' the Burnet brothers, if you've read Gundam Wing's Dual Story, you would have recognized them and the ever-overworked Dr. Tricia Farrell.

Anyway, I know that it was supposed to be 'Wings of Destiny's" turn for an update. I received a lot of e mails asking for one. Some even asking if I've given up on it! Never fear, I'm still working on the fic. I actually want to give more attention on "Shattered Walls" because the fic is like almost two years old already (something I promise myself NOT to let happen). So, I badly need to end this. But I am still working on "Wings of Destiny". It'll just take some time. So, sorry :-(

**Ookami Kage: **Thanks a bundle, Ookami. Your replies always kept me going. As you can see, Quatre survived but there's not much about him in this chapter since it's more Trowa-centered. Thanks again!

**Wingshad0w:** I don't know if Kylie would be piloting anything in this fic. But I do have big plans for her in the future. As for Mylin, yes, she might not be playing a big role here but I have bigger plans for her yet. Just you wait. I'm not letting her off that easily. Wargh…ha…ha… (evil laugh)

**Galilean:** I feel like blowing the clone's head off too. But I guess that could wait since I need him right now. I love Trowa-Dorothy pairing. Since there aren't many fics out there about the two I'm inclined to write one. I just want to see if it could really work between the two of them.

Let me put it this way. I LOVE QUATRE!!!!! There isn't one day when I don't think about him. Well, him and Yuki Sohma… and Ion Fortuna. I have a soft spot for the girly, innocent type. But that doesn't mean I love the other pilots any less. Heero is still my favorite pilot/soldier in the Gundam universe (or practically the whole anime universe) and Trowa is a totally cool dude.

As for Kylie, wow, you're absolutely correct! She just can't sit around long enough. Now, she's gone back into action. Let's just hope she survived the whole ordeal without the help of a Gundam (or she'll end up ramming another good MS to destroy an enemy!)

TK? Good guess…but as you can see in this chapter… it's not him. Looks like Treize is going to stay dead for now. If it had been him that would bring in a whole lot of conflict within Kylie since she's living solely on his philosophy and love for humanity. Anyway, if you have read "Circle of Wishes" you could've guessed who. Or you could just wait for the next chapter to find out.

**JRosal:** Hey, someone from Zero Tolerance wave wave Thanks for the compliments. Yeah, Quatre bleeding does tend to worry a lot of people as you can see. I'm just sorry that there aren't many about Quatre in this chapter. Not to worry, there will be more of him in the later chapters. Just you wait.

Alright. That's all folks. I'm going to go now and get on with the other life of mine.


	11. Chapter 11: Missing

**DISCLAIMER:** Gundam Wing belonged to Sunrise and co. I'm not making any profits out of this, so don't sue. Oh, those you think you've never heard before belong to me. And feedback is very welcome, people! ☺

**TIMELINE:** The story takes place after Survival of the Fittest, I'd say almost two years. This is the second installment of the "Shattered" duology.

**NOTE:** To avoid confusion, I have _**italic-and-bold**_ the clones' name. Hopefully, that could help you understand who's who.

**SHATTERED WALLS XI: MISSING**

By Arayelle Lynn.

What used to be a spot where a house of four had been was now a charred, smoking ruins. The blackened houses and cracked windows surrounding the area and floating ashes in the air were the telltale signs of the incident that had happened only recently. The residents of the area had been evacuated temporarily until the proper authorities were able to fix the broken gas line and deem the area safe.

Or so they told everyone on the news.

But she was not easily convinced. Although all of the evidence gathered pointed to the same conclusion, the appearance of _him_ was telling her otherwise. She knew that he could have easily rig the gas line to explode without inviting any unwanted attention. And she was _certain_ that at least two out of the family four were still alive.

Pushing up the plastic yellow tape which was placed around the affected area, she slid under and stepped onto the still crispy earth. Her expert eyes skirted around the vicinity, scanning for something that akin to clues. She did not have to look long when she spotted a small white object lying on the ground a few meters away.

Squatting down, she picked up the object and examined it. It was a matchbox. Inspecting it, she frowned as she saw the missing match inside it. But what really caught her attention was how clean the matchbox was. Despite it lying on the spot where the fire had most likely been fierce, the matchbox still looked brand new and untouched by the fires! It gave her the reason to think that someone had put it there later, after the fire, after the investigation team had left the scene. And whoever it was had done it on purpose.

All led her to one conclusion.

Flipping the matchbox over, she read the words that were printed on it: 'Melvin's Motel.'

Rising on her feet, she kept the matchbox in her pocket and left the scene. She had a place to find.

**xxxXxxx**

He did not know why his world was swimming. Or the fact why it was so dark and peaceful. One thing he did know was that a moment later, there was a growing bright light and his world suddenly exploded in tiny pricks of pain, which amplified until all he knew was the agony.

A voice assaulted his ears, urging him on even when all he wanted was to recede back into the blissful darkness. It was the thinly disguised anxiety in the voice and the wrongness he felt in his heart convinced him otherwise and soon he found his eyes fluttering open.

He groaned, shutting them fast when the light assaulted mercilessly at the back of his eye sockets. He felt a hand move to cover his face as the pain receded, leaving a dull pounding in his head. His eyes adjusted, looking up to the worried face of his best friend, who was telling him something.

"…have you back, buddy. You got me worried there."

"Duo?" a stranger voice croaked. He discovered that it was his.

"Whoa, buddy. Lie still," Duo said when he tried to get up. The braided pilot easily pushed him down again surprising him at the weakness his body was displaying. Then a moment later, fire shot up through his body and he curled in painful spasms.

He did not remember what happened but the next thing he knew, hands were holding him down, voices shouting over his shaking form, a little jab in his arm and the pain vanished and he relaxed once again.

A cloth was dabbed onto his sweat-streaked forehead. He cringed back a little, fearing the pain would return.

"Hey, it's just me, Quat," Duo said, showing him his hands. He relaxed as his friend continued wiping his face with the cool cloth.

"What… happened?"

"You were in pain. Dr. Farrell had just given you some painkiller," he answered continue wiping, all the while, without meeting his gaze.

But Quatre knew something more had happened. The weakness and pain he was feeling, the confused state of his mind as well as the strange behavior of his friend told him something was amiss. He tried to remember but there seemed to be a huge empty black gap in his mind that he couldn't break.

So, he did the only thing he could. He reached for his friend's hand, stilling it. "Duo, tell me what happened," he said, this time there was strength in his voice.

His friend met his eyes, sighing. "I thought of waiting until you've gotten stronger." He then grew serious. "You were shot by Trowa's clone. Though he missed anything important the damage had been quite serious. You've lost a lot of blood by the time we found you and you've been down with fever until now."

As his friend said those words, memories started to come back to him in flashes. He remembered hearing a cry, he remembered fighting with the clone, he remembered being thrown back when something exploded in his chest but most of all, he remembered the horrified look in Dorothy's eyes as she stared at him.

"Dorothy!" he gasped painfully, when his body involuntarily jerked up. Duo quickly caught him before he fell over. "What about Dorothy?"

Duo regarded his friend before giving his answer. "They have her." Quatre looked at him, horrified by the words so Duo squeezed his hand. "But don't worry, we'll get her back. Trowa's gonna make sure of it."

"Trowa?" he voiced, confusedly.

"Alright, that's enough," another voice said, Quatre looked over to see the doctor coming over. "Visiting hour's over. He needs his rest." As she said that, he felt a prick in his arm and his world started to swim.

"Good night, buddy."

He started to reply when suddenly a strange feeling of wrongness filled his heart again. But before he could dwell further on it, the sedative kicked in and he lost consciousness.

**xxxXxxx**

Dr. Tricia Farrell straightened up and spared a glance at Duo Maxwell as he watched over his sleeping friend. She collected the empty bottle and syringe and went over her work station.

"You told him about Barton and Catalonia." It was not a question.

Duo responded. "He asked. I didn't have the heart to keep something like that from him. Both of them are very dear to him."

She snorted. "Hm… I don't see you telling him about _her _disappearance."

He turned sharply towards her. Then recovering, he dismissed her remark off-handedly. "Quatre has enough to worry about right now. Besides, it was her choice." He then muttered to himself. "And knowing Quatre, I wouldn't be surprise if he already knew."

**xxxXxxx**

"Excellent work, _**Trowa**_," Winteridge praised when the clone had finished giving his report. "I take it you're ready to come home now?"

The clone spared a glance at his sleeping prisoner, propped up at one corner of the floor behind him. Under other circumstances, he would've return to base right away. But a small part of him wished for something else.

"I'm sorry, Your Grace, I'm afraid I am rather… occupied at the moment," he answered.

The duke leaned back, looking knowingly at him. "I see," he responded, lacing his fingers together. He seemed to be reading the clone's mind. "Well, if that's the case I'd wish you good luck."

"Thank you."

Then the older man's gaze deepened. "But do speed things up. I'm sure the others wouldn't want you to miss the excitement."

That caught him off-guard. "Excitement?"

The duke smiled, looking very pleased. "We're about to receive a guest."

A look of understanding flashed on his face. "So, the bait is laid."

"Laid and taken."

_**Trowa**_ smirked, thinking of all the nasty plans that his fellow clones had laid out for their 'guest'. "Just tell them not to break the 'new toy' so quickly. Save some for me."

"I'm sure they will." The link was disconnected.

**xxxXxxx**

_'I'm sure they will…'_ the line was dead as the real Trowa Barton ran his nimble fingers on the keyboard. His eyes skimmed through the space chart, praying that the two minutes conversation was enough for him.

As soon as his space shuttle broke orbit, he had lost the shuttle that he had been pursuing. It was then he wished that he was on Heavyarms. With the Gundam's superior computer system, he could have traced the shuttle's fuel residue to find its whereabouts.

Then an inspiration hit him. Trowa took a wild guess and head into one direction. Then he modified the shuttle's comm. system to run a scan on the audio wave. Just as he expected, the scan detected a transmission coming from the shuttle that he had been pursuing.

He expertly tapped into the transmission and listened in on the conversation between his clone and Winteridge. While listening, Trowa ran another scan, hoping to trace where the transmission was sent to.

When the conversation was reaching its end, Trowa knew he had to work fast. Then, the connection was severed, coaxing him to work even faster. It was imperative for him to succeed. Just as he thought that he had lost the signal completely, a beep sounded as a tiny red dot flashed at the corner of the navigational chart.

Nodding in satisfaction, Trowa opened a secret channel to the Heavyarms' computer system. He saved the data deep in the computer core and created a tiny 'bug' to safeguard the data. He was certain that when Kylie ran her usual diagnostics on Heavyarm's systems, she would be able to detect the 'bug'.

With that done, Trowa finally set his full concentration on his prey. He hadn't liked the way his clone delayed his return to Winteridge's secret base. It made him think that Dorothy was the reason. And Trowa Barton was not about to let anything happened to her.

And so, Trowa made his way towards where he first thought the clone was going. It was a spot that was now dubbed as the space graveyard. A place where no one had the guts or will to go to throughout the years. The remains of Libra.

**xxxXxxx**

She moved stealthily. It was not that hard to find the place. In fact, she was certain that _**he**_ had wanted her to find it. He knew exactly what she would do with the 'clue' he had left behind. He knew that it wouldn't take her long to locate the motel. He knew that she knew that the motel was a ruse. He knew that she would run a series of complicated scans across the two hundreds miles radius from the motel. He knew that she would find the secret underground base buried deep not far away from the motel, just beyond the mountains.

And he also knew that she was here.

That alone should have warned her to act with extreme caution…

If only she was not so distracted to listen to the warnings.

So without much of an effort, Kylie snuck into the base, via the ventilation system that was so cleverly disguised. She crawled down the shaft quietly, keeping her ears and eyes on full alert. She was not sure if Winteridge and the clones were there but she certainly prayed that _he_ would be. Maybe then, everything will be settled.

When Kylie reached an empty bedroom that housed a computer terminal, she knew that she needed to get off the shaft. Jumping down smoothly onto the carpeted floor, Kylie went to the terminal and started accessing the base's blueprint. When she finally found what she was looking for, she scanned the room. Her eyes then spotted a grey coverall worn by Winteridge's engineers. Looking at her own attire, she then slipped into the coverall and tucked her dark red hair neatly under a grey cap. When she was done, she slid quietly out of the room and made her way casually down the hallway.

According to the blueprint, her destination would take her even further down the base, just one floor above where the labs were. The complicated part of it, it was a restricted area that was off-limit to all but the security and science personnel. Definitely an area where you would not find an engineer like her. But Kylie was adamant. She was determined to get the captives out and… the rest would be history.

So, when she saw her stop, Kylie quickly but casually dodged through an open doorway. Finding herself in another hallway, she quietly and cautiously walked, knowing that this was a risky location for her.

It did not take her long to bump into a soldier. Fortunately, Kylie had sensed him seconds before they met at a junction. Silently, she executed a well-placed punch that rendered the solider unconscious. Catching him before he hit the floor, Kylie dragged his body into a storage room. There, she replaced her borrowed coverall with the soldier's uniform and confiscated his weapons, comlink and passkey.

Looking at the passkey, she was struck with an inspiration. Recalling the blueprint in her mind, she located the armory. Using the passkey, she loaded some charges into a bag. Kylie then continued her way to the cell area, stopping along the way to set the charges. Once she was near her destination, she encountered more soldiers but they were nothing she could not handle. However, this time she did not bother to hide the bodies, knowing she had to move fast before anyone started noticing the missing soldiers.

"What the…" the soldier by the door started, raising his rifle. Kylie launched a high kick that connected with his chin. His head snapped back, as the force of the kick pushed his body to the wall. Kylie caught the rifle in her hand, watching the soldier slid to the floor, unconscious.

A slight movement could be heard from behind the door the soldier had been guarding. She looked through the small barred hole on the door. From the dark interior, two pairs of eyes stared back at her.

A look of surprise recognition flashed in one pair of eyes. "Kylie!" a male voice cried. "You're alive!"

"Stand back," she instructed, fishing out the passkey from the soldier's back pocket. She swiped the card along the electronic lock. There was a beep and the door opened with a click. She pushed open the door, revealing a pair of dirty-looking young man and woman about her age.

"Kylie!" the young man shot up, only to fall on his knees hissing in pain as he hugged his side. The young woman caught him in time, whispering soothing words to comfort him.

Kylie knelt before them, ignoring the wary look the young woman threw her. "Are you hurt, Dante?" she inquired, her eyes scanning both prisoners for injuries. But aside from a few bruises and scrapes, she did not detect any wounds.

Gritting his teeth to suppress the pain, Dante looked up. "Just a few broken ribs."

Her eyes narrowed and fists clenched. "Alonso?" she growled, eliciting a surprise look from the young woman.

"Yeah, that sonofabitch just couldn't help himself from having a little bit of fun," he winced, getting to his feet. Then he looked at her over, grinning. "Hey partner. Good to see you. I _knew_ the news of your demise is greatly exaggerated."

Ignoring his obvious statement, she looked towards the door, hearing the sounds of running footsteps. She grunted. "No time to chat. We need to get out of here." Just as she said that, the alarms sounded, deafening them.

The three had barely step out into the hallway when a voice stopped them. "Freeze!" Kylie turned and fired at the soldiers in the hallway. They ducked for cover and she signaled for Dante to run to the other end of the hallway. She quickly followed after.

"What's the plan, partner?" Dante inquired, his teeth clenched over the pain in his ribs. Suddenly a couple of soldiers appeared from the corridor before them. Quickly, he grabbed his sister and dodged into another corridor as Kylie fired another burst to cover them. He then saw her thumbed a detonator and a couple of explosions could be heard in the background.

Kylie changed the clip before addressing his question. "_You_ get out." She handed him an automatic. "Think you can handle that?" Dante released his sister, took the gun and winked.

"Thought you never ask."

She nodded then took a glance at the corridor. It was clear. Before she left the cover, she addressed his sister. "Stay close to Dante, Gracie. No matter what happen," she reminded, her words seemed to carry more weight than usual. Dante frowned. "Kylie, what…"

She cut him off. "This way." With that she ran along the corridor and into another hallway. Unable to stop her, Dante grabbed Gracie's hand and pulled her with him.

They reached the upper level a few minutes later. Along the way, they met more soldiers but it was nothing both of them could not handle. Although Dante was hardly a trained soldier, his days in assisting Kylie taught him a thing or two about being a soldier. And the charges Kylie had planted throughout the base had kept the soldiers more than busy. However, by the time they got to the upper level, they were down with one usable weapon.

"I'm out," he said, tossing his borrowed rifle down in disgust. "What about you?"

Kylie checked her clip. "Enough," she answered. She chanced a look into the hallway and dodged back when the soldiers fired on her. She bit a curse. The hangar was just beyond the corridor. And those bozos were in her way. If only…

She handed him the revolver, surprising him. "Cover me," she instructed, pulling the last smoke grenade. Unpinning the grenade, she tossed it at the soldiers. As smoke filled the corridor, Kylie jumped out of the cover, minding the wild shots coming from the blinded soldiers. Dante stared in horrified silence as she fished out a couple of small knives from her boots, diving straight into the foray.

When the smoke started to dissipate, Dante could finally make out Kylie's figure standing over the bloody mess at her feet. There was blood trailing down the knives in her hands, her clothes, her face, the floor, the wall, everywhere. And when her eyes met his, Dante almost shuddered at the cold ferocity in the winter blue depths.

"Come," she simply said, picking up one of the discarded weapons on the floor. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Dante took his sister's hand and went over to the other girl. He heard Gracie's whimper as they carefully walked over the dead soldiers. He gave her hand a squeeze to reassure her, all the while keeping his eyes on his former partner.

"Are you alright, Kylie?" he asked, staring at her. Something in him told him that this was not right, that this was not the same girl he had grown up with. It told him that he needed to be careful around her.

Kylie must have sensed his fear because the light started to change in her eyes. She nodded, in assurance. "Come, we cannot linger," she said, adjusting her hold on the AKA 47. She then led them towards the hangar.

They were just crossing the threshold when a hail of bullets started to rain on them. Kylie dove to the right while Dante dragged his sister behind some crates on the left. They waited as the shots rang out all around them, accessing the hangar with keen eyes.

Dante spotted them first. "Kylie, three o'clock!" he yelled. She snaked a look from behind the crates only to receive another hail of bullets. But those precious seconds gave her the chance to access the situation.

Five of them. On the platform above. By the sounds of the running footsteps from the platform on the other side indicated that more were coming. She then looked at her intended target. A four wheel drive was parked _conveniently_ a few feet away. With the door exiting the hangar _conveniently_ gaping open.

But the thing was, there were six soldiers standing guard between them and the jeep. The six had their rifle trained on the only exit, waiting for them to show up. And if they were to make a run for it, they will surely _NOT_ make it. Especially when they have a non combat person with them.

Kylie almost cursed at the irony. So near yet so far. A shift of movement brought her attention back to Dante who was waiting for her to speak. "Do you see it?" she shouted over the thunderous shots. The soldiers still had not stopped firing them.

Dante took a peak at the jeep, nodding. Kylie gestured at her rifle, pointing her fingers at the soldiers above. Then she gestured at him and his sister, pointing them to the jeep. He nodded in comprehension. She wanted them to make a run for it while she drew the soldiers to her.

Kylie showed him three fingers, counting down…

As soon as she reached three, Kylie rose to her feet, firing the rifle in rapid succession while moving away from Dante and Gracie. She instantly killed the soldiers standing guard near the jeep before targeting those above. When the soldiers' attention drew towards her, Dante grabbed Gracie's hand and pulled her running with him. They were just a few meters away from the jeep when suddenly he lost his hold on her. He looked back in horror as Gracie tripped and landed on the floor with a cry of pain.

The cry unfortunately attracted the soldiers and they started to fire on them. Dante bit back a cry as a shot hit him, the impact sending him reeling back. As he fell to the floor, his body movements went automatic and he rolled away from the hail of bullets, feeling the tiny pieces of the floor biting his skin. He only stopped when his head almost collided with something hard and rubbery.

He was safe behind the jeep!

But his relief was cut short when he remembered his sister, still in the thick of things. Now that he was safely behind cover, the soldiers would go after his sister! But before he could fully let the fear sank in, there was a flash of red hair jumping down from a crate. He saw her firing on the soldiers before gathering Gracie in her arms and diving right back behind the crates. Her movements were so fast that neither Dante nor the soldiers realized what she had done until it was over.

"Dante!" Kylie's voice broke through his shock. She continued firing on the soldiers, killing two already. Remembering what he was supposed to do, Dante climbed into the jeep. He fished out some wires below the steering wheel and hotwired them. He sighed when he heard the vehicle came to life.

Kylie in her part, turned to Dante's sister. She took in her wide, frightened eyes staring up at her. "Are you okay?" she asked, accessing for injuries. The girl took a few seconds before finally shaking her head. "Are you sure?" she asked, gripping the girl's shoulder.

By then Gracie had started to cry. Her breath hitched and her body trembled in fear. Kylie immediately knew that the girl was panicking. "Calm down, Gracie. You're going to be alright," she said, surprising herself by how gentle her voice could be. She tilted the girl's chin so her eyes met hers. "Look at me. Nothing will happen to you. I'm going to take care of you, alright." She gave her a tender smile, remembering the same girl who had once came running to her bed when there was a thunderstorm. "I'll take care of you, just like old times."

When the last words finally sank in, the light in Gracie's eyes changed. She opened her mouth, as if to say something as she stared at Kylie's familiar profile. But before she could say a thing, Kylie was giving her instructions.

"Now, we are going to make a run for it." Hearing that, the girl started to shake her head. "We are going to _run_ to Dante," said Kylie, holding the girl's face. She had heard more footsteps coming from where they had came from and realized that they were trapped. "And no matter what happen, you don't stop, okay?"

The girl stared back at her, more tears trailing down her cheek. So Kylie did the only thing she could think of. She pulled Gracie into an embrace. "Be brave, little one. For me," she whispered, putting more weight in her words.

When the trembling in the girl's body finally abated, Kylie released her. Gracie looked her in the eyes and nodded confidently. Kylie felt a strange warmth inside her when she saw the deep trust in her eyes. "Let's go."

With that, Kylie came out, the rifle in her hands sputtering bullets at the remaining three enemy's soldiers. Beside her, Gracie ran. Kylie had to adjust her pace as to match the younger girl's small ones as to shield her. Behind them, Kylie could hear shouting, indicating the enemy's reinforcements had arrived.

As if sensing the severity of situation, Gracie seemed to be running even faster. And now that she had finally took down the three soldiers above, Kylie turned her attention to the soldiers coming from behind them and the ones arriving from the other side of the platform. From the jeep, Dante did his best to cover his sister and former partner with the remaining rounds in the automatic.

Suddenly, Kylie spotted something. A familiar dark-haired figure among the soldiers above. Unlike the other soldiers, he was watching her with sharp eyes. His lips curled in an ironic smile. Eyes narrowed, Kylie quickly shoved Gracie closer to the jeep. The force of the push sent the girl right into Dante's arms, who scooped his sister into the Jeep. He turned to Kylie.

"Go!" Kylie ordered, firing at the soldiers above, hoping to hit one particular target.

"Kylie!" Dante called her, half-climbing on the four wheel drive. When his fear-filled eyes met her determined ones, he realized what she was going to do. But before he could stop her, there was a clattering sound as something rolled at Kylie's feet.

For a moment there time seemed to stop. Kylie and Dante exchanged horrified glances. "Go!" Kylie mouthed at him before an explosion tore from the grenade at her feet. In a few milliseconds, she was gone in a flash of fire and smoke.

**xxxXxxx**

"Kylie!"

Quatre shot up from his bed. For a moment, he could not breathe. His mind, muddled by sleep and drugs, strained to drift back to awareness. His hand flew to his chest, where a sharp pain was beginning to take form. His whole body shook, cold sweat glistened on his forehead. Nausea threatening to roll in his stomachs as black spots appeared in his visions.

Someone came over and held him. Someone whose voice was gentle as it was familiar. "Quatre, calm down. You're making yourself sick," the woman said, rubbing his back tenderly in an attempt to soothe him. "Breathe slowly, come on."

In several minutes, he finally managed to get his breathing even. By then, all of his remaining strength left him, leaving him drained. The woman pressed him back to bed, brushing a lock of blond hair from his eyes.

Finally, his vision cleared and he saw Relena smiling gently at him. "Welcome back."

"What happened?" he rasped, taking a sip of water from the glass she held to his lips. The cool liquid soothed his dry throat, making him sighed.

"You had a bad dream," another voice said. This time it was monotonous, though there was a tiny hint of concern underlying it. Quatre looked over Relena's shoulder and saw Heero, leaning against the door frame. Wu Fei and Duo standing nearby.

'And still no Trowa,' Quatre thought anxiously, rubbing his aching chest. 'And Dorothy.' He was starting to remember the previous events. Slowly this time, Quatre pushed himself off the bed. Relena assisted him.

"I remember what happened," he said, answering his friends' unvoiced question. Again, he was struck with the feeling of wrongness that seemed to follow him from his nightmare. He kept rubbing his chest.

"I'm glad," Relena said, stress and fatigue were clearly displayed in her violet eyes. She had been so worried about her friends. "Duo told us you regained consciousness last night. But Dr. Farrell prohibited any visit until you're strong enough. "

"How long have I been out?"

"A little over five days," Duo answered since he had been the one who never left his side. Seeing Quatre's disbelief look, he quickly explained. "You developed an infection. The doc gave you something to counter the fever."

"How are you feeling now?" Relena inquired, scrutinizing him.

Quatre massaged his chest some more, frowning over the wrong feeling that refused to leave him. What did he dreamed about earlier? Why can't he remember?

"Quatre?" Relena's voice broke through his reverie. She was concern for him. Throughout the conflict, Quatre had been the one affected the most. He had been kidnapped, overdosed, dumped and now shot… she did not know how much he could take anymore.

"I'm fine," he quickly answered. Seeing the sharp look everyone threw him, he grimaced. "I'm just tired," he finally admitted. But before his friends could suggest he take a rest, he held out his hand. "But I would like to know our current status," he said, straightening himself up.

Heero and Wu Fei smirked while Duo scowled. 'Ever the leader,' they thought before filling him in on the present situation, which include the things Duo had informed him the night before.

"So, Trowa is on his own, huh?" Quatre said after they were finished. He nodded, telling himself to trust Trowa to rescue Dorothy. He knew Trowa would not fail him and his friends. He will rescue Dorothy and find the enemy's secret base.

Suddenly he looked up, remembering something. "Where's Kylie?" he asked. He had not been able to sense her presence like he always could. There was a strange hollow feeling deep in his heart.

"She disappeared. Four days ago." It was Wu Fei who answered. He shook his head. "None of us knew where she went." Quatre looked at Heero, who was aware that everyone's eyes were onto him.

"Beats me. I have no idea where she went," he said, shrugging. The blond Arab slumped, taking in the news heavily. Relena decided to change the subject. "And I'm leaving for Brussels."

His head shot up to regard her. Even Duo looked surprise. "This conflict is having a severe effect on the ESUN representatives. They're calling a meeting and I'm going to be there to persuade them not to do anything rash," she explained.

"But Winteridge…"

"Heero's coming with me," Relena added, glancing at her self-appoint bodyguard. "He's leading a team to ensure my safety."

Quatre nodded, knowing Heero would never let anything happen to Relena. And now that the two were back together again, he just knew that Heero will take good care of her.

Suddenly, Quatre felt weary. The previous affairs were finally settling heavily on his shoulders. So many had happened and he found himself having no idea on what he was supposed to do. With the war halting at the moment while the two sides waiting for the other to start attacking, the current political uproar took its turn for the worse, he did not know what role he should be playing now. Especially since the Gundam pilots were scattered.

"Rest," was Relena's answer. She had seen how he paled at the hopelessness of their situation and did not want to exhaust him any further. "Everything will be all right," she said as he laid back. He closed his eyes, welcoming sleep.

But the throbbing ache in his chest remained. And he knew that it had nothing to do with his wounds.

**xxxXxxx**

Once they left the infirmary, Duo finally broke the silence. "So you two are going to Brussels. When did you decide on this?" He stared at Heero and then Relena. They could almost hear the unspoken question. _When were you planning to tell me this?_

"We just got cleared by Lady Une and the President this morning," Relena explained. "She instructed Heero to bring a team with him to Brussels to make sure nothing happen to the representatives."

"Then sign me on 'cause I'm coming with you," he volunteered.

"You're not going," Heero stated, folding his arms in an unwavering way. When Duo started to protest, the Wing Zero pilot quickly interrupted him. "I need you here. One of us needs to stand by here in case Winteridge attacked."

"Wu Fei's here, duh!"

"Not for long."

"Wu Fei?" Duo glanced at the silent Chinese pilot. "Don't tell me _you're_ leaving too!"

Seeing that he was roped into the conversation, he folded his arms as well. "I'm on a solo mission," he simply said.

"What!"

"Since Lady Une decided to hold off the attack on Mars, there's no need for all of us to be standing around here waiting. Since Trowa's not here and both Heero and I are occupied, you're the only one left to hold the ford. Just in case."

"Quatre can do it," Duo argued.

"Quatre _can_ do it but he's not fit for battle at the moment. He'll need time to recover."

"This is absurd!"

"Look, Duo. With Trowa gone, Quatre is going to need a lot of support," Relena said, feeling that she should intervene. "And you're the only one we trust enough to do that."

Duo stared at them then back at the infirmary. He sighed. "Fine, I'll stay until such time Quatre deemed me unneeded."

"And while you hang around babysitting, you might want to rethink your priorities," Wu Fei threw at him as he walked away.

Heero spared a glance at the braided pilot. "He's right. You might want to stop doubting the people on your side and start concentrating on the real enemy," he said, leaving Duo standing there with his mouth open.

**xxxXxxx**

"As you predicted, we're right on schedule. The fall of Jupiter did nothing to delay our plans," the man on the screen reported. Winteridge leaned back, sighing satisfactorily at the news.

"So I take it, you have everything you need?"

"Yes, Your Grace. The raw materials we got from Winner's resource satellite and from Jupiter were enough to complete its construction. Now, my men and I are on the second phase."

"Are there any problems with the manpower?"

The engineer flinched at the mention. "There were problems with some of the workers, since the Jupiter colonists were liberated by the Preventers but it's nothing we couldn't handle. Those who are not loyal to you will find themselves sorely outlive their usefulness and are dealt accordingly."

Winteridge nodded. "Good. Now, I shall leave you to your own devices. Make sure our ultimate creation is ready in time."

"As you wished, Your Grace." The wall screen winked blank.

"You look happy," a voice said, making him turn around. His friend, Instructor D walked into the room casually. Seeing the blueprints on the small screen on his desk, he did not have to make a guess at what made the aristocrat smiling widely.

"Our plan is falling into places."

Instructor D looked over the blueprints, then at the image of the actual thing displayed on the wall screen. "She's magnificent," he commented, drinking the beautiful sight of Mars. But he had not meant the red planet. Instead he was referring to something entirely different.

"She's going to do even better," Winteridge responded, raising his glass of wine in salutation. "Happy Birthday, my dear CATALYST."

**xxxXxxx**

When Mylin finally reached her destination, she immediately knew something was not right. The tingling sensations at the back of her mind, the sensation that she always associate with danger, grew vigorously as she approached the location where her people had relocated after the war.

It was due to Winner's gracious act that gave them a place where they could take refuge. After the unexpected end of the war a year ago, the remaining Telrhani found themselves trapped in this side of the universe, sorely scattered and in chaos. And hunted. Seeing how badly her own people were hunted down by human renegade soldiers and vengeance-seekers, she was forced to return from her self-exile to unite and save her people.

And after a few months of struggling for survival, they were saved from total annihilation by a directive from the ESUN who banned any violent activities against them. This was all thanks to Relena Darlian's unrelenting effort to stop the violence.

This was followed by Quatre Winner's generous offer to allow the Telrhani refugees to take shelter in one of his family's abandoned resource satellites. And for a while, the Telrhani had been living in peace and quiet. There had even been talks about working under Winner's employment to return the favor until _it_ happened. Until Winteridge declared war on the ESUN, taking Winner with him.

And now, here she was.

"This is _Eye_ requesting for entry," she identified herself over the comm. The feeling of danger had still not abated. She knew she had not any choice but to continue. If she ran off now, she would be perceived as a spy and shot down. Besides, she was curious as to why her people allied themselves with Winteridge in the last battle. Curious and troubled.

"_Eye_, you're clear for entry," said traffic control after several minutes. But it was enough to tell her that something was amiss. And she was determined to make Drisden Ser' Walern, her second-in-command, suffer her wrath.

She slowly eased the shuttle into an empty spot in the hangar. As she was getting off the ramp, two Telrhani sentries came to greet her. She frowned when they did not salute her. "Where the hell is Drisden?" she demanded, before any of them had any chance to say a thing.

The two exchanged glances. Not waiting for them to answer, she stormed off. She knew exactly where she would find him. Upon reaching the conference chamber, she threw the door open.

"My Lady," a Telrhani greeted her. He rose from the seat at the head of the oval table and bowed to her in respect of her status as the former Emperor's Eye. "Welcome home."

She looked around the room, searching for a face. There were three Telrhani in the room and none resemble the face she was looking for. "Where's Drisden?" she asked, turning towards the one who regarded her. "Balliast?"

Balliast Ser' Kallas, an ambitious commander who had served under the late Captain Stharhkis exchanged glances with the other three Telrhani in the chamber before answering, "He's… occupied elsewhere."

"Really?" she said, drawing closer to him. She glared into his amber eyes. "Then perhaps _you_ should tell me the reason why I found our soldiers allying with Winteridge's?"

"Oh, that," the commander said, stepping away from her to circle the table. "I can explain."

Mylin crossed her arms. "I'm sure you can." It was then she realized that it was even more logical to assume that it was Balliast's doing since he had been trying to convince her to take sides since the war began. Which was why he had chosen Drisden, Balliast's equal, to assume command while she was gone.

"It was all purely business," Balliast explained. "Winteridge offered us a place in his empire in exchange for our assistance. Something that the Earth Sphere failed to provide us."

"Haven't I made myself clear enough? We are _not_ to involve ourselves in the human's war!" she argued. "We're only to sit quiet and watch the war from aside!"

"That's very hypocritical of you, _Lady_," he said the last word with contempt. "Can you tell us the reason why _you_ allied yourself with the Gundam pilots? Or were you trying to win their favor?"

Mylin banged her hands on the table. "What I do for the Gundam pilots is strictly my own business."

"And what is this I heard about you being under-employment of the Preventers?"

She was taken aback. "How did you know-?"

"I have my ways. Or rather, Winteridge has his own ways." He nodded at the two soldiers standing behind her. They pointed their weapons at her. "I'm sorry you can't see my way, Lady but it's time to be disposed of you."

Mylin stared at the weapon that was aimed at her chest. She looked up at him, realizing something. "Where is Drisden, Balliast?"

"Don't worry. You're about to see him," he said, before shooting her at point blank. Mylin looked at him defiantly before crumpling to the floor. "Take her away," he ordered the soldiers. He turned to the other two. "Now, let's discuss what other deed we can do for His Excellency Winteridge."

**xxxXxxx**

The remnant of Libra drifted silently, hauntingly still around him. For a moment, Trowa was reminded of a graveyard, which was what it was for there were many who perished in the Eve War including Treize Khushrenada and the five Gundam engineers. Throughout the years, there were those who had come to pay their respect to the dead. But most stay well out of the way as anyone would when nearing an accursed place. And throughout those years, Libra remained asleep…

And Libra had continued being so until the last war with the Telrhani when a fool in the form of General McGarth decided to reactivate the Libra cannon, thus disturbing the dead's peace with its shattering effects. The blast had killed most Telrhani armada and very nearly killed his friends, Heero and Kylie. In the end, the ESUN forbade any use of Libra for any purpose, arrested and court-marshaled General McGarth and left the 'graveyard' alone.

However, this time the rest of the dead was about to be disturbed again, in less than a year. In a different war.

Earlier, Trowa had tracked his clone here. But now he had to decide which of the debris his clone had taken refuge. He knew that he had to work fast. There was a strange feeling that was slowly filling him. A feeling that he was about to walk into a trap.

Scanning the fuel residue, he found the enemy's shuttle moored in one of Libra's main docking bay. Eyeing the shuttle, Trowa allowed his shuttle to drift further up as to not give his presence away. He cut off his fuel and steered his shuttle to a small hatch. Once he finally docked, Trowa reached for his gun and started for the hatch. He opened it and peered into a dark empty hatchway. Releasing the gun's safety, Trowa walked through the threshold.

The hunt continued.

**xxxXxxx**

It was pain that woke her up. The whole world exploded in bright stars of agony that overwhelmed every part of her body that for a moment, she forgot how to breathe. Then a gasp escaped her lips as she struggled to keep the pain at bay.

"Well, well, guess who has decided to join the land of the living." A voice assaulted her ringing ears. A voice so familiar that it sent a different sort of shivers up her spine. It was a voice she had not heard for a long time.

Instinctively, her body shot up. Ignoring the blast of pain that came with the sudden movement, she glared at the man before her. Blood drained from her face as she pushed herself away from him until her back hit the wall behind. "You!" There was hate and fear in her voice.

"It's been a long time, kid. I missed you," the man said, chuckling at her response to his presence. He came nearer, which caused her to inch herself further away from him but was trapped in the corner. He smiled. "I missed the times we were all together. Don't you?"

She shied away from the hand that brushed her hair. "Not at all." She gave him a warning glare. "What are you doing here?"

He looked at her, startled as if she had just asked something that he was not aware off. "What? You mean here? With my good friend Winteridge?" His smiled widened. "Come now, my dear. You should know."

"You work for him," she stated. Then she shook her head. "No, you wouldn't work for someone. You're in it with him."

Seeing her accusing stare, he looked appalled. "My dear, I'm merely finishing what I've already started all those years ago."

Realization hit her like a brick. "You trained them! The clones!"

"It was my mission to train young soldiers to perfection," he explained. His face changed. "My special mission was to train you and your lot but when the Alliance failed to see how children like you could be turned into perfect soldiers, they refused to continue the project and threw me to the streets with you lot." He growled, clenching his fist. "You people were the only ones I have to survive until that blasted Treize Khushrenada came by and ruin all my plans."

"I was imprisoned in OZ's deepest, darkest prison and was left there to die until a man with vision came by and arranged my release. He told me of his plan to clone the Gundam pilots and needed someone to train them."

He grinned. "And it appears that my Gundam pilots are much better than yours and soon there will be the only ones left standing." He looked at her. "And you, my dear, are going to help me."

"Like hell."

"Please," he smirked. "Refuse us all you want. It's going to be fun torturing you." Five familiar figures appeared in the cell, standing behind him.

"Instructor D?"

He stood, strengthening his uniform. "She's all yours, kids."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Author's note:** Yay, as promised, an update!!! So, by now everyone should know who Instructor D really is. And looks like things are finally moving for our favorite boys. Next update for 'Shattered Walls' shall be some time in August (hopefully). And please, do visit my profile page for the weekly update.

Thanks to Ookami Kage, SilverRocks, altunick361 for reviewing.

Ja ne!


End file.
